Moscow's Spring or NATO's Autumn

In view of the dramatic changes within the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, NATO faces the challenge of coordinating its defense planning with its diplomatic approaches to the Soviet Union. This Note considers issues fundamental to NATO's strategic policy: what goals NATO should pursue in the years ahead, if containment and deterrence are less predominant concerns; what its priorities should be among competing political, economic, and diplomatic policies; how it should approach arms control negotiations; what its defense policy and military strategy should be; what force improvement measures it should pursue; and what its stance toward coalition planning and transatlantic relations should be. Finally, it considers the U.S. role in this context, and concludes that the United States must continue its involvement in NATO and European security affairs.