Ahead of an important Oct. 14 meeting of NATO defense and foreign ministers to discuss the alliance’s draft “Strategic Concept,” two nuclear arms control and security experts are calling for the alliance to initiate a comprehensive review of outdated NATO nuclear policy at their Lisbon summit in November. The aim of the effort, they argue, should be to reduce the role and salience of nuclear weapons and support reductions of U.S. and Russian tactical nuclear bombs.
NATO leaders seem ready to adopt a new Strategic Concept defining the alliance’s core mission for the next decade when they meet at the
Volume 1, Number 24
In the run-up to the Nov. 19-20 NATO Summit in Lisbon, today a group of over 30 senior European leaders, including former Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers from Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Slovac Republic, and the United Kingdom, released a joint statement declaring that "NATO should make disarmament a core element of its approach to providing security."
NATO is likely to defer major decisions on its future nuclear weapons policy until after the alliance’s Nov. 19-20
Some habits, even dangerous ones, are hard to break. The Cold War is long over, but there are nearly 200
Factsheet, August 2010
A report delivered by a group made up largely of diplomats and former officials on May 17 to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen does not give clear guidance on whether U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe should be withdrawn, saying that “the Alliance should be prepared for in-depth consultations on the future role of nuclear weapons in its deterrence strategy.”
NATO is revising its Strategic Concept; the alliance is due to complete work on the document in November. A key issue in the revision is the deployment of
With other NATO countries such as
U.S. and European nuclear arms control and security experts reacted to the elements of a report from a group of senior advisors on reform of NATO's basic mission statement describing recommendations on Alliance nuclear policy as a missed opportunity to look forward and take the chance to mold the future of the Alliance.
A comment by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the importance of
On the first day of an informal April 22-23 meeting of NATO foreign ministers in
Volume 1, Number 1
Hillary Clinton recently met with the foreign ministers of various NATO allies in Tallinn, Estonia. They discussed the future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. NATO no longer needs these weapons, and the U.S. decision to link their removal to Russian actions is disappointing.
The foreign ministers of five NATO countries last month called for a discussion of what the alliance can do to advance nuclear arms control and said “the inclusion of sub-strategic nuclear weapons in subsequent steps towards nuclear disarmament” should be part of the discussion.