ABSTRACT
The search for theater nuclear and conventional arms control agreements is a key catalyst in forcing NATO to reexamine its conventional force requirements, as well as its overall mix of national and theater nuclear forces. The steady growth of Warsaw Pact unit numbers, manpower, and equipment, coupled with the correction of many of the former weaknesses in Soviet, GDR, Polish, and Czech conventional warfighting capability. The practical challenge to NATO—and particularly to Britain, France, the United States, and West Germany—is how to deal with these issues in a way that allows substantive progress without creating debates that end in dividing the West. The United States sought to create conventional options to deal with lower-level attacks that could give NATO time to negotiate an end to a conflict without resorting to nuclear war. NATO forces have already steadily improved their planning and training to make use of terrain, water, and urban barriers in the forward area.
