| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this report is to look at possible effects of NATO’s Defence Capabilities Initiative (DCI) on the Alliance
itself as well as on the transatlantic relationship. Accordingly, the initiative and its impact are being investigated from a
broader perspective than the one most usually applied and typically confined to the fields of military capabilities,
operations and technology. This does not exclude from the investigation results of DCI in these fields. To many
participants such results are the primary aims of DCI. However, the broader perspective means that other effects, too,
are included. Politically, these may be important to some allies. Following a brief description of the initiative as such,
several likely effects on the “inner workings” of the Alliance, on its future nature and functions, and on relations
between the United States and European allies are examined. Some of these effects are probably welcome to all allies.
Other effects from DCI are not and are probably opposed by some allies. Even so, such effects may benefit other allies,
which could be suspected of trying to bring them about by means of the initiative. Such effects, pertaining, for instance,
to US leadership in the Alliance, or to the EU policy in security and defence matters, may also result from DCI
irrespective of its success with respect to improvements in military capabilities. As for the prospects of such success,
better public knowledge of the initiative does not seem likely to help its funding. For one thing, the DCI is lacking in
clarity and simplicity. Nor may it prove sufficiently convincing in the new circumstances. | en_GB |