Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Joseph S.
Nye, Jr., announced today the publication of the "United States Security
Strategy for Europe and NATO." The report is third in a series of regional
security strategies commissioned by Secretary of Defense William J. Perry to
supplement President Clinton's "Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement." As
explained in this report, the United States has a comprehensive approach to
creating a new security architecture for Europe. Its key elements include
enhancing NATO's efforts to reach out to the East through the Partnership for
Peace; pursuing a gradual, deliberate, and transparent process of NATO
enlargement; building a more cooperative relationships between NATO and Russia;
supporting European integration as embodied in the European Union (EU); and
strengthening the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE);
as well as maintaining close bilateral relationships with both our allies and
new partners.
Nye emphasized that the policies described in the report demonstrate the
United State's commitment to expanding the existing zone of stability in
Western Europe to Europe as a whole, thereby realizing President Clinton's
vision of an integrated democratic Europe cooperating with the United States to
keep the peace and promote prosperity worldwide. We must seek to realize this
vision by maintaining a strong NATO Alliance, while avoiding the creation of
new dividing lines that could exacerbate security threats in Europe.
A key component of our approach is President Clinton's initiative to establish
the Partnership for Peace (PFP) which forges a cooperative relationship between
NATO members and the new democracies in the East, as well as other European
states, such as the former neutrals. Relating this effort to Secretary Perry's
upcoming meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Nye noted that we are
seeking to strengthen the PFP and to ensure that it becomes an enduring feature
of the new European security architecture.
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Among the report's other highlights:
. As part of the gradual process of NATO enlargement, the Alliance is now
exploring the "how" and "why" of enlargement. This study should be complete by
September and the results will be briefed to interested PFP partners in the
early fall. NATO Ministers will then review these exchanges at their December
1995 meeting and decide on next steps.
. An important related development is the Warsaw Initiative announced by
President Clinton in Poland in July 1994. Through this initiative the United
States would provide $100 million to PFP members in FY1996 to support
participation in PFP activities, promote interoperability and deepen defense
and military cooperation. Full funding of this initiative is essential to
ensure the success of our European strategy.
. The NATO allies and Russia have agreed to develop closer relations, in
parallel to NATO enlargement, both within PFP and outside it. Beyond that, we
are considering the means for eventually establishing a longer-term NATO-Russia
relationship, through some type of formal agreement.
. Through the U.S. proposed concept of Combined Joint Task Forces, NATO is
exploring ways to use the collective assets of the Alliance not only in
NATO-led missions, but also with WEU-led forces or "coalitions of the willing,"
which could include non-NATO members, such as PFP partners.
. The Alliance has also made significant progress toward integrating a
counterproliferation policy into its new, post-Cold War agenda. NATO has
agreed to a broad political-military approach to proliferation, and a
three-phase work plan to address the defense implications.
. America's military presence in the region -- which has been reduced by over
200,000 since 1989 and should remain at approximately 100,000 U.S. troops remains vital to enduring U.S. interests in Europe and beyond. Since the end
of the Gulf War in 1991, forces in the U.S. European Command have been deployed
51 times to over 30 countries, including Bosnia, Iraq, and Somalia.
