ABSTRACT
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance of sovereign, democratic nations that enjoy freedom of thought and action in both foreign and defense policy, and that have joined together in collective security against a commonly perceived threat. Soviet military potential is obviously a major element in determining how much defense capability NATO needs to ensure that a Soviet leader never sees the opportunity to use force against it. The challenge facing NATO is to ensure that as it moves to lower levels of nuclear forces and as it examines the relationship between offensive and defensive forces, the Alliance strategy of flexible response remains effective and credible. The Alliance should have a process by which NATO military requirements are formulated and presented to nations in such a way as to enable member countries, in their national arms planning, to take full account of the needs of the Alliance.
