Defense Capabilities and the Defense Capabilities Initiative

One significant way in which the duplication issue has remained important emerged from the introduction of another factor. By the time of St. Mâlo and the first U.S. formal response to it, the NATO Alliance was also “seized of” concerns about its own military resources and capacities. Having successfully completed the design phase of adapting the NATO Alliance to meet the challenges of the post–cold war era,1 the allied states had to consider the scope of possible NATO military actions in the future and, in particular, the capabilities needed to undertake such actions. These concerns arose even before the alliance decided, beyond generalities, upon potential areas for military action (other than requirements that could arise under the Washington Treaty’s Article 5) or the geographic limits of such action. The need to give reality to alliance “adaptation”—in this case creating the appropriate military capabilities—begged those questions, which remain unresolved.