ABSTRACT
In late 1991, the Western allies agreed to significant changes to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including a major revision of its military strategy, a new political mission in relation to the countries of the former Soviet bloc, and a reduction and reconfiguration of its force and command structure. The important and perhaps expected result was, nonetheless, beyond what American officials had wanted: they would certainly have preferred confining security, and particularly defense policy making and activity, to a NATO-only context. To American officials, NATO had proved its worth during the Cold War, and it had the potential for continued usefulness in the new era. They were also understandably comfortable with their influence within NATO and were rightly concerned that continued public and congressional support for American involvement in Europe was only likely through a vigorous NATO.
