ABSTRACT
The dominant fact of the current military balance is that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries are falling behind in every significant military category, with the possible exception of naval forces where the gap in our favor is closing. In the 1950s and for much of the 1960s, NATO was protected by a preponderance in American strategic striking power which was capable of disarming the Soviet Union, and by a vast American superiority in theatre nuclear forces although, we never had a comprehensive theory for using theatre nuclear forces. NATO is not equipped to be an instrument of detente. A report about a distinguished American senator returning from Moscow the other day who said: "It is virtually certain that cruise missiles will be deployed and that NATO will undertake a build-up of its own unless negotiations to a new treaty are begun soon.".
