ABSTRACT
To assess the role of sea power and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) only in terms of a North Atlantic conflict would certainly limit the naval requirements for fighting such a war. Thus a strategy that entails a major reduction of US Pacific naval power in the event of a NATO conflict could well be viewed as confirmation of a US lack of resolve. NATO forces on Europe's central front have been numerically inferior to the Warsaw Pact forces since the inception of NATO. The deployment of sizable naval forces in the Asian area to help maintain stability in the vital areas of the Indian and Pacific basins while confronting the Soviets in Europe would be as vital to NATO as the fighting in Europe itself. The NATO region would be only one part, of a global confrontation, and indeed the NATO region is the safest area in the world by far in terms of the threat of war.
