U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe: A Review of Post-Cold War Policy, Force Levels, and War Planning

Piecing together evidence from an array of sources, the Natural Resources Defense Council has determined that the United States is still deploying 4801 nuclear weapons in Europe. That should come as a surprise. Until now, most observers believed that there were no more than half of those weapons still left on the continent.

Declassified documents obtained under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, military literature, the media, non-governmental organizations, and other sources show that the 480 bombs are stored at eight air bases in six NATO countries – a formidable arsenal larger than the entire Chinese nuclear stockpile.

The military and political justifications given by the United States and NATO for U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe are both obsolete and vague. Long-range weapons in the United States and Britain supplant the unique role the weapons once had in continental Europe, yet it seems NATO officials have been unwilling or unable to give them up.

The deployment irritates efforts to improve relations with Russia and undercuts global efforts – and those of the United States and Europe – to persuade rogue nations from developing nuclear weapons. The Bush administration and the NATO alliance should address this issue as a matter of global nuclear security, and the United States should withdraw all of its nuclear weapons from Europe. ...

About the Author
Hans M. Kristensen is an independent nuclear weapons policy analyst who has spent the last 20 years researching nuclear weapons policy and operations.

He specializes in using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain declassified documents and is a consultant to the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington D.C. Kristensen is the co-author of the bimonthly NRDC Nuclear Notebook in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and writes the World Nuclear Forces appendix to the SIPRI Yearbook.

 His other publications are available on his web site at http://www.nukestrat.com.

Download U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe: A Review of Post-Cold War Policy, Force Levels, and War Planning

PDF format, 5MB, 102Pages.

Prepared by Hans M. Kristensen
Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2005.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................ 5
Large U.S. Nuclear Force Remains in Europe........................................................ 8
Underground Nuclear Weapons Storage Logistics........................................... 13
Stockpile Upgrades Made Under Guise of Safety Concerns ............................ 20
History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe........................................................ 24
Security Fears Trim Excessive Deployment in 1970s ...................................... 24
Public Uproar in mid-1980s Forces More Reductions ..................................... 27
Rationale for U.S. Deployment in Europe Challenged by World Events......... 28
The 1991 Gulf War Helps Create New Justification ........................................ 29
New Cuts Lead to New Reaffirmation of Nuclear Role ................................... 32
Nuclear Reductions Trigger Security Problems ............................................... 34
Nuclear Planning in Europe Modernized.............................................................. 37
Nuclear Strike Training..................................................................................... 42
The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review ....................................................................... 44
Nuclear Deployment Reorganized.................................................................... 46
European Changes Increase Importance of U.S. fighter bombers .................... 48
NATO Expansion East Reaffirms Status Quo .................................................. 50
More Safety Concerns Raise Alarm ................................................................. 50
New Presidential Guidance But No Change......................................................... 53
Call for Review of NATO Policy Opens Debate.............................................. 53
Nuclear Burden-Sharing Begins to Unravel ..................................................... 55
More Policy Refinement but Little Actual Change .......................................... 60
The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review ....................................................................... 62
Prospects for Change ........................................................................................ 65
Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................................... 70

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