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CRS-12
capable conventional forces, should certainly give pause to any rogue leader
contemplating the use of WMD against the United States, its overseas deployed
forces, or its allies."25 These statements do not indicate whether nonstrategic nuclear
weapons would be used to achieve battlefield or tactical objectives, or whether they
would contribute to strategic missions, but it remained evident, throughout the 1990s,
that the United States continued to view these weapons as a part of its national
security strategy.
The Bush Administration also emphasized the possible use of nuclear weapons
in regional contingencies in its 2001 nuclear posture review. Further, the
Administration appeared to shift towards a somewhat more explicit approach when
acknowledging that the United States might use nuclear weapons in response to
attacks by nations armed with chemical, biological, and conventional weapons,
stating that the United States would develop and deploy those nuclear capabilities
that it would need to defeat the capabilities of any potential adversary whether or not
it possessed nuclear weapons. This does not, by itself, indicate that the United States
would plan to use nonstrategic nuclear weapons. However, many analysts concluded
from these and other comments by Administration officials that the Bush
Administration was planning for the tactical, first use of nuclear weapons. The Bush
Administration has never confirmed this view, and, instead, has indicated that it
would not use nuclear weapons in anything other than the most grave circumstances.
For NATO, nonstrategic nuclear weapons have a played a reduced, but
continuing, role in security policy. They have been seen not only as a deterrent to a
wide range of potential aggressors, but also as an important element in NATO's
cohesion as an alliance. In the Press Communique released after their November
1995 meeting, the members of NATO's Defense Planning Committee and Nuclear
Planning Group stated that "Alliance Solidarity, common commitment, and strategic
unity are demonstrated through the current basing of deployable sub-strategic
[nuclear] forces in Europe."26 NATO has also reaffirmed the importance of nuclear
weapons for deterrence. The "New Strategic Concept" signed in April 1999 states
that "to protect peace and to prevent war or any kind of coercion, the Alliance will
maintain for the foreseeable future an appropriate mix of nuclear and conventional
forces. Nuclear weapons make a unique contribution in rendering the risks of
aggression against the Alliance incalculable and unacceptable."27 NATO had also
emphasized the importance of nuclear weapons in its strategy in 1997, in the
Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation, and Security Between the RussianFederation and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Although the NATO
members assured Russia that it had "no intention, no plan, and no reason to deploy
nuclear weapons on the territory of new members," it also stated that it had no need
25 Statement of the Honorable Edward L. Warner, III, Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Strategy and Threat Reduction, before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on
Strategic Forces, April 14, 1999.
26 NATO Press Communique M-DPC/NPG-2(95)117, November 29, 1995, para. 21.
27 The Alliance's Strategic Concept, approved by the Heads of State and Government
participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Washington D.C., April 23-24,
1999.
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Woolf, Amy F. Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons, report, September 9, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs6104/m1/15/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.