The following
is a summary. Click on the adjacent link to download the full report.
In January 2007, George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam
Nunn wrote the first in a series of essays published in the Wall Street Journal calling for a global
effort to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons, prevent their spread into
potentially dangerous hands, and ultimately end them as a threat to the world.
One of the important steps they proposed to reduce nuclear dangers was
to start a dialogue, including within NATO and with Russia, on consolidating
the nuclear weapons designed for forward deployment to enhance their security,
and as a first step toward careful accounting for them
and their eventual elimination.
Accomplishing this task will require careful thought and coordinated
action within both NATO and Russia, as well as a strategy for engagement
between them – the subject of former Senator Sam Nunn's featured essay for this
report.
To assist in developing such an approach and as a direct contribution to
the ongoing NATO Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR), the Nuclear
Threat Initiative commissioned a series of nine policy papers authored and
reviewed by a distinguished group of international experts.
This collection of papers on NATO nuclear policy analyzes policy and
force structure options open to NATO members and aims to promote dialogue and
new thinking on several key issues and questions, including:
Can/should NATO’s nuclear
declaratory policy be modified to further reduce the role of nuclear weapons in
NATO security policy consistent with the recent changes to U.S. and U.K.
declaratory policy?
What are the security
concerns and related risks associated with NATO’s existing nuclear posture, and
how can these concerns and risks be reduced?
Are the current nuclear
sharing arrangements sustainable in the long term for NATO members, and what
are the alternatives that maintain wide participation in nuclear operations and
planning?
What reassurance measures
are required for NATO members and partners consistent with the new NATO
Strategic Concept, and what are the benefits and risks involved?
What are the next steps in
US/NATO-Russia discussions and cooperation on non-strategic nuclear weapons
(NSNW), missile defense, and nonthreatening conventional force deployments?
How does the debate over
NATO nuclear policy and NSNW – deployed by both NATO and Russia – relate to
Asian security?
