Defense Planning Committee and Nuclear Planning Group Brussels 28-29 May 1991

Final Communiqué Chairman: Manfred Wörner Synopsis New era for Europe and Alliance - Expansion of dialogue with Central and Eastern Europe - Goal of Europe whole and free - Withdrawal of Soviet forces and dissolution of Warsaw Treaty Organisation's military structure - Implementation of CFE Treaty - Risks and uncertainties despite improved security environment - Peace and freedom, strategic balance, credible deterrence, common defence - The Gulf War - First operational deployment of AMF - Dialogue, cooperation, collective defence - Arms control and disarmament - Progress of new strategic concept - Indivisibility of security, shared responsibilities - Continued presence of North American forces in Europe - New force structures: flexibility, mobility, multinationality - Main defence, reaction, augmentation forces: land, air and maritime - 1991 Ministerial Guidance - Agreement on maintaining effectiveness of collective defence arrangements - Financial consequences of adaptation and transformation of forces in a transitional period - Process of adaptation in key areas of defence planning (crisis management; reinforcement; air command and control; infrastructure; arms cooperation - CAPS;) - Review of size and tasks of nuclear forces - Reduced reliance on nuclear forces - Substantial reductions - Status of START negotiations - INF implementation - Consultations on SNF - Risks from proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction - Unprecedented opportunities for promotion of freedom and stability in Europe - Intensified dialogue and cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries - Role of CSCE - Contribution of arms control and disarmament - European security and defence identity - The transatlantic link - Preservation of common defence

The Defence Planning Committee and the Nuclear Planning Group of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation met in Ministerial sessions in Brussels on 28th and 29th May 1991. At last year's London Summit NATO's Heads of State and Government set a new course for the Alliance, aimed at adapting to the profoundly changed security environment and encouraging the continuation of the positive developments in Central and Eastern Europe. The new era has well and truly begun for Europe and for the Alliance. The process of dialogue with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including political and military contacts at all levels, has now been established and should continue to be expanded. The Allies will continue to promote co-operation on the basis of the principles set out in the Paris Charter. All these steps are helping to overcome the divisions of the past as we move towards our goal of a Europe whole and free. The continuing withdrawals of the Soviet Forces to their territory and the recent decision by the member states of the Warsaw Pact formally to dissolve its military structure are important developments, which are further enhancing security and stability in Europe. We seek full implementation by all parties of the CFE Treaty, which would represent a major step forward. We appeal to the Soviet Union to find a way to resolve the remaining issues delaying ratification of the Treaty. The new political situation and the much improved security environment in Europe have made an East-West conflict much more unlikely. Nevertheless uncertainties and risks remain. The Soviet Union is undergoing a difficult political evolution. We clearly have an interest in the success of the process of political and economic reform, not least because the Soviet Union continues to retain substantial nuclear and conventional capabilities. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are subject to considerable political, social, economic and ethnic pressures which could lead to crises jeopardizing overall stability in Europe. Moreover, as the Gulf war underlined, risks can also arise from elsewhere. The Alliance thus needs to continue to work to protect peace and freedom, and must preserve the strategic balance and maintain credible deterrence and an effective common defence to counter any threat to the territory of the Allies. We warmly welcome the success of the international coalition forces in the recent Gulf War. We note with satisfaction the effectiveness of the prompt action taken by the Alliance in deploying naval and air forces to its Southern region to deter any possible attacks on its members. This included the first operational deployment in Alliance history of elements of the ACE Mobile Force. The Alliance's actions have once again demonstrated the overriding importance of political solidarity and our determination to fulfil the commitment to collective security stipulated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. We are adapting and transforming our collective defence arrangements as foreseen in the London Declaration. Our broad approach to Alliance security policy is reflected in its three mutually reinforcing elements of co-operation, dialogue and the maintenance of an effective collective defence capability. Arms control and disarmament policy plays an important role in pursuit of dialogue and in the co-operative approach to European security. We have noted with satisfaction that substantial progress has been made in the development of the new Alliance Strategic Concept, which is nearing completion. We look forward to the new Concept being approved later this year. The work done so far to reflect the changed security environment provides a sound basis for the continuing efforts to develop further the Alliance's defence policy and in particular to reshape our nuclear and conventional force posture through the collective defence planning process. As the Alliance adapts to the new environment, the preservation of enduring principles, such as the indivisibility of our security and the need for sharing responsibilities, will remain important. These principles are reflected in the integrated military structure and collective defence arrangements which have maintained a credible deterrence and effective military capability over the past forty years. A continued presence of forces from North America in Europe is indispensable. In our Defence Planning Committee meeting we continued the intensive consultations on the reviews many member countries are undertaking of their future national defence plans, and the consequences of these reviews for the common defence. We also considered recommendations developed by our Military Authorities for the future structure of NATO's forces. The new force structures will reflect the characteristics of flexibility, mobility and multinationality identified in the London Declaration. We noted with satisfaction that both the future national plans and the work done on the new NATO force structures will enable us to maintain a coherent and effective collective defence posture at lower overall force levels. We have agreed the basis of a new force structure consisting of Main Defence Forces, Reaction Forces and Augmentation Forces, including multinational forces of all types: land, air and maritime. In particular we have agreed various national contributions to the multinational corps of Main Defence Forces for which detailed planning will now proceed. With regard to Reaction Forces, we have agreed that these should consist of immediate and rapid reaction forces, comprising contributions from most NATO nations and including national as well as multinational formations. As part of the rapid reaction forces, we have agreed the creation of a Rapid Reaction Corps for Allied Command Europe, under United Kingdom command with a multinational headquarters. These forces, together with our future air and maritime force structures, will provide the basis for the flexible deployment of a range of forces depending on the situation. In this context we have agreed the establishment of a multinational Reaction Force Planning Staff at SHAPE for development and co-ordination of plans for all Allied Command Europe Reaction Forces. A number of important aspects relating to the implementation of the new force structure now require examination, including the composition of multinational air and naval components and their command arrangements. We agreed that the necessary studies should be undertaken immediately. Finally, we have agreed that a study of NATO's command structure should be pursued as a matter of urgency with the aim of streamlining and adapting it to the new situation. We have approved the 1991 Ministerial Guidance, which provides political guidance for Alliance defence planning activities, both national and collective, for the period up to 1998 and beyond. It will thus cover the period of transition during which the new Alliance Strategic Concept is to come into effect and its implementation will therefore need to take account of the new strategy as finally approved. The Guidance reflects our agreement on the need to maintain the effectiveness of our collective defence arrangements and thus to provide the level of resources necessary to ensure that our forces contributing to the new force structures are adequately manned, equipped, trained and exercised. Nevertheless, we agreed that a continued improvement in the security environment should permit reductions in the defence burden for most countries. However the adaptation and transformation of the forces in this period of transition will inevitably have financial consequences and for the majority of nations defence expenditure in real terms should not be expected to reduce substantially in the near term. In this context a more effective use of defence expenditures and an equitable sharing of the common defence burden remain key objectives. We also reviewed the work being undertaken in a number of key areas of Alliance defence planning as part of the process of adaptation of our forces. These include crisis management, which will assume greater importance in future to reflect the range, variety and unpredictability of the risks facing the Alliance; reinforcement planning where, in addition to the continued vital importance of the transatlantic link, inter-regional reinforcement within Europe, involving both European and North American forces, will play an increasingly significant role; the Air Command and Control system; and infrastructure, armaments co-operation, as enhanced by the Conventional Armaments Planning System (CAPS), and logistics support arrangements. Although much of this work can only be concluded once the new Strategic Concept and the new force structures have been finally approved, good progress is being made. We received a briefing on military lessons of the Gulf conflict. We agreed that these should be carefully studied, and applied where appropriate. In our Nuclear Planning Group meeting we discussed a broad range of nuclear related issues. We were briefed on the status of the bilateral negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union and supported United States efforts to obtain a successful conclusion to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). We noted with satisfaction that the final elimination of United States and Soviet missiles declared in the INF Treaty has new been completed. We welcomed this milestone in our efforts to achieve a stable security environment at lower levels of armaments. In this context, we reviewed the status of Alliance consultations on an arms control framework for negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction of Short-range Nuclear Forces (SNF). Last year we initiated a fundamental review of the size and tasks of the Alliance's nuclear forces. It looks forward to reduced reliance on and substantial reductions of nuclear weapons. It also recognizes that for the foreseeable future nuclear weapons have an essential role in a strategy designed to preserve peace; and, as part of this, that there remains a need for sub-strategic forces to be based in Europe, with widespread participation in nuclear roles and policy formulation, and kept up-to-date where necessary. The review is well advanced and will be completed in conjunction with the new Alliance Strategic Concept. While seeking the lowest level of nuclear forces commensurate with Alliance security requirements, we are also investigating the measures necessary to ensure that those forces that remain continue to be effective, flexible and survivable, with the requisite communications capability. Against the background of the Gulf War, we discussed the potential risk posed by proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction and the need to consider complementary approaches to dealing with the problem, including export controls and missile defences. We welcomed a briefing by the United States concerning its concept for global protection against limited ballistic missile strikes. The transformation of the Alliance has begun in an environment in which unprecedented opportunities exist to promote freedom, stability, the peaceful resolution of disputes and the growth of democracy throughout Europe. We welcome the intensified dialogue and cooperation with all countries of Central and Eastern Europe as a promising contribution to increased mutual understanding and trust. Building on the spirit of the Pans Charter, the CSCE process should play an increasingly constructive role and will complement the Alliance's efforts to achieve a more secure and stable European environment in which no country would be able to intimidate or coerce any other nation or impose hegemony through the threat or use of force. To this end arms control and disarmament should also continue to make an important contribution. The efforts further to develop a European security identity and defence role should lead to a strengthened European pillar within the Alliance and thus not only serve the interests of European states but also enhance Atlantic solidarity by underlining the preparedness of the European allies to take a greater share of the responsibility for collective security. NATO will remain the essential forum for consultations among the Allies and the forum for agreement on policies bearing on the security and defence commitments of its members under the Washington Treaty. At our Autumn meetings we will consider the implementation of the new Alliance Strategic Concept and in particular the resulting nuclear and conventional force and command structures. The process of adapting to the needs of the new security environment is a challenging task. We have made a very good start. We remain determined to ensure that our common defences which have served us so well in the past will continue to do so in the future.