Witkowsky, Anne, Sherman Garnett, and Jeff McCausland. Salvaging the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty Regime: Options for Washington. Brookings Arms Control Series Paper 2 (2010): 1-30.

This published version is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit The Brookings Institution's Website.

Russia's suspension of the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) since December 2007, and its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states following the Georgia-Russia conflict in August 2008 cast a long shadow over the future of the CFE Treaty. These actions make longstanding efforts to transition to the follow-on Adapted CFE Treaty difficult at best. Some in Washington and Europe feel that new efforts are required to shake loose the logjam. For others, the treaty has less and less relevance to the evolving European security environment, and little should be done to save it. This paper examines a set of issues crucial for understanding if and how the treaty matters, possible U.S. options to address the current dilemma, and the likely consequences if the treaty should fail to survive the current challenges.

Jeffrey McCausland is a visiting professor of International Security Studies at Dickinson College.