Evaluating the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent in Europe

Richard Weitz's Global Insights ariticle this week provides a good discussion the Phase II Report (.pdf) of the Schlesinger Task Force.  After outlining the background for the reports, the article highlights a number of the findings and recommendations specifically made in the Phase II report.  Looking forward, the article looks at some of the nuclear challenges facing the incoming Administration.  Decisions on the strength of conventional forces, missile defense, and disarmament will all be prevalent.  Of particular interest is his discussion of the U.S. nuclear umbrella in Europe and important issues that need to be addressed

The allies have not recently undertaken a comprehensive assessment of whether the current U.S. nuclear deployments in Europe are at optimal levels or whether they need to be reduced further or perhaps even increased. Other issues related to their location, nuclear sharing arrangements, and terms of use might also warrant a wide-ranging evaluation. The NATO heads-of-state summit in April might provide a timely opportunity for such a review, which allied governments have thus far avoided for fear of attracting attention to an issue they would prefer not become an object of widespread public debate. NATO leaders will also need to think carefully about whether to extend alliance membership even further given the credibility issues involved by threatening to employ nuclear weapons to, for instance, defend Georgia or Ukraine against a Russian attack.