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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Foreword, by Lord Robertson xv
Acknowledgments xix
Note on Sources xxi
Introduction xxiii
Book I. The Origins 1
1. An Ambiguous Pledge 3
2. Dismantling Yalta 7
3. Aligning with the West 11
Book II. The Debate Begins 18
1. Russia First 20
2. Making the Case 29
3. "We Need a Perspective" 40
4. The Partnership for Peace 48
Book III. Across the Rubicon 58
1. An Ambiguous Decision 60
2. Shifting Gears 69
3. Pressure from the Right 79
4. Holbrooke's Return 86
5. Across the Rubicon 93
Book IV. Establishing the Dual Track 99
1. Establishing the NATO Track 101
2. A Parallel Track with Moscow 105
3. The May-for-May Deal 111
4. The Political Battle Heats Up 118
5. Bosnia and NATO Enlargement 124
Book V. Toward a New NATO 134
1. On the Back Burner 136
2. Sleeping with the Porcupine 139
3. Tough Love for Central and Eastern Europe 146
4. Ukraine and the Baltic States 155
5. "A Long Dance with Natasha" 163
Book VI. The NATO-Russia Endgame 175
1. Madeleine's Vision 176
2. Chancellor Kohl Comes Through 181
3. The Road to Helsinki 188
4. Breakthrough at Helsinki 200
5. Playing Both Sides of the Chessboard 204
Book VII. Head-to-Head at Madrid 212
1. Sintra 213
2. Playing the Heavy 221
3. A Baltic Challenge 228
4. Madrid 238
5. The Final Compromise 245
Book VIII. The Political Battle 251
1. Creating a Command Post: The Birth of S/NERO 253
2. The Campaign Starts 259
3. Dancing with Jesse Helms 267
4. New Members and New Missions 275
5. The Endgame 282
Conclusion 289
Notes 307
Index 361
Overview
How and why did NATO, a Cold War military alliance created in 1949 to counter Stalin's Soviet Union, become the cornerstone of a new security order for post-Cold War Europe? Why did the United States not retreat from Europe after communism's collapse, but instead launch the greatest expansion of the American commitment to the old continent in decades? Council Fellow Ronald Asmus, who as a former key adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was one of the architects of NATO enlargement, draws on State Department classified archives to answer these and other questions.
The political battle over NATO enlargement was the first serious debate about national security strategy since the Cold War. It forced the United States to answer basic questions about America's relations with Europe, NATO, and Russia. In this definitive account, Asmus sheds new light on the Clinton administration's strategy to open NATO to new members and argues that this was part of a broader U.S. effort to modernize the alliance for a new era in which the United States and Europe would face new global threats together.
One of the earliest intellectual advocates of NATO enlargement to central and eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Asmus documents how the administration sought to develop a rationale for a new NATO that would bind the United States and Europe together as closely in the post-Cold War era as they had been during the fight against communism. Opening NATO's Door illuminates the ideas, politics, and diplomacy behind the historic decision to expand NATO to the east.
