5 November 1991
SECRET
UK EYES A
BIEN
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
AVM A L Roberts BE ACDS (Concepts)
MB 2385
Ministry of Defence Whitehall
LONDON SW1A 2AH
London SWIA 2AH
Telephone: 071- 270 3143
Dear it. V. May
し
L!
AN OPERATIONAL CONCEPT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UK STRATEGY OUT OF AREA (00A) 2000 AND BEYOND
1.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the policy paper circulated under cover of your minute of 11 October. I apologise for the delay in responding: a large number of FCO departments had to be consulted.
2.
In view of the comments received from others in the MOD, you will not be surprised to learn that we too have considerable reservations about the value of proceeding further on the basis of a draft which has been overtaken in some of its basic assumptions. The Directive (Annex A to the paper) shows its 1988 origin all too clearly. Apart from the obvious developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union which have rendered the assumptions at para 4 (a) completely obsolete, that at para 4 (b) is also overtaken by the declaration at the London NATO summit of July 1990 that the Alliance would move away from the concept of flexible response and forward defence; the Rome NATO summit on 7-8 November will endorse a new strategic concept with a substantially different emphasis.
3. In view of these rather fundamental problems, we agree with those who have suggested that a fresh start is needed to follow on from a revision of the UK Defence Strategy paper. redraft should at least mention the possibility of joint European forces or European defence policies within the timeframe addressed..
I enclose a number of detailed comments which may be of use in compiling any revised paper.
4.
Your f
T M Dowse
Non-Proliferation and Defence Dept
Any
TD3ADE
SECRET
UK EYES A