Ballistic Missile Defence

The history of missile defence debates in NATO includes European concerns about Sentinel and Safeguard programmes to defend North America in the 1960s, the Strategic Defence Initiative of the 1980s, theatre missile defence for out-of-area operations in the 1990s, and the development of missile defence to defend allied territory in the 2000s. Missile defence debates in the Alliance have historically been divisive as they have brought to the fore fundamental questions of extended deterrence the allies would otherwise prefer to have left unstated. That said, a broad consensus on the role and limits of missile defence in NATO strategy has emerged since 2009, so reducing the political salience of the issue. Such a state of affairs is testament to NATO’s ability to manage complex political–military issues among the allies.