NATO Missile Defense and the European Phased Adaptive Approach: The Implications of Burden Sharing and the Underappreciated Role of the U.S. Army
Abstract
In 2010, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided to significantly expand its ballistic missile defense program to include the defense of European member state territory and populations. Previously, when it came to ballistic missile defense, the NATO Alliance had focused solely on deployed forces and so-called lower tier systems. The Alliance s policy change was based on several factors, but especially important were the decisions by the administration of President Barack Obama to redesign the U.S. plan for the use of American ballistic missile defense assets in Europe known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) and to offer the EPAA to NATO as the cornerstone of theater-wide Alliance ballistic missile defense, with the understanding that the European members of NATO would contribute to the common effort as well. However, for a number of reasons, which co-authors Mr. Steven J. Whitmore and Dr. John R. Deni explain in terms accessible to laymen as well as strategists and other national security experts not necessarily well-versed in technical missile defense issues, it seems that the United States will continue to carry the lion s share of the ballistic missile defense burden in Europe. This will have significant implications for the U.S. Army, which plays an important, though largely underappreciated, role in the EPAA and hence in NATO ballistic missile defense. Mr. Whitmore and Dr. Deni describe and explain the important role of the Army, and they analyze the specific implications for the Army of current and potentially growing U.S. commitments to ballistic missile defense of NATO s European members. In doing so, Mr. Whitmore and Dr. Deni make an important contribution to both policy and academic debates over Alliance burdensharing and ballistic missile defense.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA586930
Entities
People
- John R. Deni
- Steven J. Whitmore
Organizations
- United States Army War College