A Wikileaks document briefly posted by The Guardian Monday appears to give an official number for the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe: 180 « Here In Reality. A Wikileaks document briefly posted by The Guardian Monday appears to give an official number for the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe: 180 Posted by J on December 12, 2010 · Leave a Comment By Hans M. Kristensen A Wikileaks document briefly posted by The Guardian Monday appears to give an official number for the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe: 180. The number appears in a leaked cable written by U.S. NATO Ambassador Ivo Dalder in September 2009, describing an earlier Nuclear Posture Review briefing U.S. Miller’s number is smack in the middle of the estimate Stan Norris and I have developed. Miller also stated that Russia had 3,000-5,000 plus tactical nuclear weapons. Whether Miller was providing certified U.S. intelligence numbers or simply referenced good-enough nonofficial public estimates is less clear.
It’s Up, It’s Down The cable first appeared in a Guardian story that was posted on the news paper’s web site Monday with the cable. Implications I couldn’t agree more. Here in Reality. NATO Nukes. The first “revelation” from the Wikileaks cache is something we already knew — that there are US nuclear weapons stored in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Turkey — at least, as of November 2009. That much is clear from a conversation between German Chancellery National Security Advisor Christoph Heusgen and Assistant Secretary Phil Gordon: In response to Gordon’s question about how the government planned to take forward the commitment in the coalition agreement to seek the removal of all remaining nuclear weapons from Germany, Heusgen distanced the Chancellery from the proposal, claiming that this had been forced upon them by FM Westerwelle. Heusgen said that from his perspective, it made no sense to unilaterally withdraw “the 20″ tactical nuclear weapons still in Germany while Russia maintains “thousands” of them.
It would only be worth it if both sides drew down. The are three interesting things about this exchange. More on NATO Nukes. We have a second cable from Wikileaks on the subject of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, noting that the Belgian government refused to join an effort by Germany, Netherlands and Italy to ask for the removal of US nuclear weapons their territory — despite the enthusiasm shown by the then-Foreign Minister: Belgium has a special interest in nuclear non-proliferation issues because it participates in NATO’s nuclear forces at the Kleine Brogel air force base.
It rejected a recent overture from Germany to join with the Netherlands, Italy and Germany to propose to the rest of NATO that nuclear weapons be removed from those countries (ref B). However, Belgian MOD and MFA officials apparently had to rein in then-Foreign Minister Leterme when he initially responded too positively to the idea. Belgium’s official policy rejects a unilateral approach to disarmament and insists that the issue must be discussed among all NATO members at one time, with due regard for U.S.
Tac Nuke Numbers Confirmed? » FAS Strategic Security Blog. By Hans M. Kristensen A Wikileaks document briefly posted by The Guardian Monday appears to give an official number for the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Europe: 180. The number appears in a leaked cable written by U.S. NATO Ambassador Ivo Dalder in September 2009, describing an earlier Nuclear Posture Review briefing U.S. Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Jim Miller gave to NATO in July 2009. Miller’s number is smack in the middle of the estimate Stan Norris and I have developed. I recently published a snapshot here (previous NATO posts are here), and a more detailed overview will appear in the January Nuclear Notebook in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Miller also stated that Russia had 3,000-5,000 plus tactical nuclear weapons. Whether Miller was providing certified U.S. intelligence numbers or simply referenced good-enough nonofficial public estimates is less clear. It’s Up, It’s Down Implications I couldn’t agree more. 180 NATO Nukes. I kind of figured that the Wikileaks cables would reveal a lot about so-called tactical nuclear weapons — like how many the US has in Europe or the current US estimates of the Russian stockpile.
One cable, drafted by Ivo Daalder, that details a briefing by PUSD(P) Jim Miller to NATO Permreps and Milreps on 16 July 2009 contains both, as well as other goodies. It’s 180 NATO nuclear weapons and 3,000-5,000 Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons. Oh, and the US can go as low as 1300 warheads against current Russian (and Chinese) strategic forces.
Really, it was a great briefing. I am glad that we all have acceess to Ivo’s notes, even if Ivo isn’t. (It is a very well-written cable.) The juicy bits are below the jump. On current and projected strategic and non-strategic forces: On the disparity between NATO and Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons: Norway asked Dr. On requirements for deterrence.