NATO 'Experts Group' misses an opportunity
for leadership on nuclear posture
BASIC and Arms Control Association Press Release
Monday, 17 May 2010 - IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Paul Ingram, BASIC in London (Office
+44 (0)207324 4680; mobile: +44 (0)7908 708175); Oliver Meier,
ACA in Berlin (+49 30 4372 3970); Daryl Kimball, ACA in Washington
(202-463-8270); Anne Penketh, BASIC in New York (202-570-6701).
(London/Berlin/Washington, D.C./New York)
-- 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 mould the future of
the Alliance.
"The NATO 'Group of Experts' has failed to
offer the necessary practical leadership that takes NATO's
nuclear policy into the new century. They continue to pin
the credibility of the Alliance on the deployment in Europe
of 200 U.S. nuclear gravity bombs, more suited to the Cold
War doctrine of the 1960s. The lack of positive proposals
could endanger the possibilities of agreement by the Lisbon
NATO Summit in November," said Paul Ingram, executive
director of the British American Security Information Council.
The report "NATO 2020: Assured Security;
Dynamic Engagement" was handed over to NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today. Rasmussen will draft
the New Strategic Concept which NATO member states aim to
adopt at the Nov. 19-20 summit in Lisbon.
Although the Barack Obama administration
has made it clear that the next round of U.S.-Russian nuclear
arms talks should address tactical as well as strategic nuclear
weapons, the 'Group of Experts' recommends that ‘As long as
nuclear weapons exist, NATO should continue to maintain secure
and reliable nuclear forces, with widely shared responsibility
for deployment and operational support, at the minimum level
required by the prevailing security environment'.
"The expert group asserts its statements
without background justification. It does not attempt to justify
the continued deployment of 200 U.S. tactical bombs in Europe
on military grounds, yet boldly states they 'reinforce the
principle of extended nuclear deterrence and collective defence'",
said Oliver Meier, with ACA in Berlin. "In fact,
tactical nuclear bombs are not 'credible' weapons and are
irrelevant for the defense of the alliance," he noted.
Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of
Staff Gen. James Cartwright said at an April 8 briefing that
NATO nuclear weapons based in Europe do not serve a military
function not already addressed by other U.S. military assets.
See: http://www.cfr.org/publication/21861/nuclear_posture_review.html
"This report fails to chart a route
out of the Cold War trap involving the dangerous deployment
of free-fall battlefield nuclear bombs in Europe," said
Anne Penketh of BASIC. "To claim that transatlantic
solidarity rests upon them, when host states in Western Europe
are crying out for change, fails to recognize a much greater
risk to Alliance solidarity in the status quo," she concluded.
"While the Experts Group calls for efforts
to work with Russia to reduce the overall number of tactical
nuclear bombs, they implicitly acknowledge that linking NATO
actions on its tactical nuclear stockpile to Russian action
is a formula for inaction and delay," noted Daryl
G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.
The experts also recommend that: "NATO
should endorse a policy of not using or threatening to use
nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states that are party
to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance
with their nuclear non-proliferation obligations."
"The report thus concedes that NATO
must significantly restrict the options for any use of these
weapons in line with Obama's nuclear posture review,"
said Oliver Meier.
"Rather than perpetuate the nuclear-sharing
arrangement, NATO should recognize that in the 21st century,
these smaller and more portable nuclear bombs are a security
liability, not an asset. They are a target for terrorists,
blur the line between conventional and nuclear conflict, and
are a drag on global nonproliferation efforts," said Kimball.
NOTES:
1) The NATO Experts Group report is available
online at:
http://www.nato.int/strategic-concept/expertsreport.pdf
2) The Experts Group Report recommends, in
part, that NATO: a) Commit to retaining a nuclear element
to its deterrent strategy "for as long as nuclear weapons
remain a reality in international relations;" b) Continue
to deploy U.S. nuclear bombs in Europe to reinforce extended
nuclear deterrence, and signal transatlantic solidarity; and
c) Should support efforts to reduce further the prominence
of nuclear doctrines, and should endorse a policy of not threatening
nuclear use against NPT non-nuclear weapon states in compliance
with their non-proliferation obligations.
For more information, see: "NATO Chief's
Remark Highlights Policy Rift," by Oliver Meier in Arms
Control Today, May 2010.
See: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_05/NATO
# # #
The British American Security Information
Council (BASIC) and the Arms Control Association are independent
nongovernmental organizations with offices in London, Berlin,
and Washington.
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