ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which the Alliance can respond to the agreement, paying attention to what has been an often-overlooked consideration, namely the potential commitments of both the US and Canada to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The military strategy of the Alliance embodies three types of responses to any kind of aggression: Direct Defense, Deliberate Escalation, and General Nuclear Response. To maintain and improve defense capabilities in this area must continue to be the goal of NATO, all the more so in post-Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Europe. Hence, whereas the double-zero option weakens NATO's capabilities in the fields of escalation and deterrence, there are no such restrictions on the operational and strategic options of the Warsaw Pact. Basically, the expression implies a need for clarification of the relationship between conventional ratio of forces and nuclear weapons through extensive investigations within NATO.
