ABSTRACT
Observers would prefer that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) spend more for its own defense. Critics of NATO will probably contend that such an approach will reap few rewards and encourge West European “free-riding” tendencies. The strategy-forward deployment of American forces, including substantial numbers of ground forces in Western Europe that implies an acceptance of shared risks and responsibilities-appears equally valid, despite changes in the strategic environment. When the United States is taken into consideration, the Alliance’s human resources are nearly twice as large as those of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The post-World War II economic boom that has occurred in the Far East may have altered the strategic environment. Western Europe is militarily threatened and will probably continue to be threatened, even after a Conventional Forces in Europe agreement, in ways like no other region of the world.
