Report: What NATO Countries Think About Tactical Nukes

Country positions on US tactical nuclear weapons deployment - 2011. (Illustration: FAS)

March 31, 2011 defpro.com

Courtesy by Mr Kristensen; first published by FAS at http://goo.gl/S2G2H

Two researchers from the Dutch peace group IKV Pax Christi have published a unique study[1] that for the first time provides the public with an overview of what individual NATO governments think about non-strategic nuclear weapons and the U.S. deployment of nuclear bombs in Europe.[2]

Their findings are as surprising as they are new: 14, or half of all NATO member states, actively support the end of the deployment in Europe; 10 more say they will not blog a consensus decision to that end; and only three members say they oppose ending the deployment.

Anyone familiar with the debate will know that while there are many claims about what NATO governments think about the need for U.S. weapons in Europe, the documentation has been scarce – to say the least. Warnings against changing status quo are frequent and just yesterday a senior NATO official told me that, “no one in NATO supports withdrawal.”

The report, in contrast, finds – based on “interviews with every national delegation to NATO as well as NATO Headquarters Staff” – that there is overwhelming support in NATO for withdrawal.

The most surprising finding is probably that most of the Baltic States support withdrawal, only Lithuania does not.

Even Turkey, a country often said to be insisting on continued deployment, says it would not oppose a withdrawal.

The only real issue seems to be how a withdrawal would take place. The three opposing countries – one of which is France – block a potential consensus decision, a condition for 10 countries to support withdrawal.

The Obama administration needs to take a much more proactive role in leading NATO toward a decision to end the U.S. deployment in Europe. This can be done without ending extended deterrence and without weakening the U.S. commitment to NATO’s defense.

[1] "Withdrawal Issues - What NATO countries say about the future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe", http://goo.gl/90lDK (PDF 844.7KB, 32 pages)

[2] "US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, 2011", by Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, http://goo.gl/LpRHW