Building without a Cornerstone: The Indispensable Role of CFE in the European Security Structure

Abstract : For more than 20 years, the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty has been a cornerstone of European security. The transparency and confidence-building accomplished through the other European security instruments are necessary, but not sufficient to prevent conflict in Europe over the long term. Therefore, the United States should pursue negotiation of a conventional arms limitation treaty to replace CFE. The treaty s central purpose should be to reestablish meaningful limits on conventional armed forces in Europe, in order to provide a high degree of certainty among neighbors and the wider European community that conventional force levels will not see a return to the unstable levels that existed prior to CFE. Concluding a new conventional limitations treaty will further U.S. interests by: (1) decreasing the likelihood of a conventional arms race in Europe; (2) contributing to stabilization and eventual resolution of enduring or frozen conflicts; (3) establishing more favorable conditions for the advancement of U.S. nuclear disarmament goals, and; (4) setting conditions for the further promotion of arms control initiatives outside of Europe.