David G Haglund - The U.S.Canada Security Relationship: The Politics, Strategy, and Technology of Defense

Alan Ned Sabrosky, Series Editor

Security in Northeast Asia: Approaching the Pacific Century, edited by Stephen P. Gibert

Alliances in U.S. Foreign Policy: Issues in the Quest for Collective Defense, edited by Alan Ned Sabrosky

The U.S.-Canada Security Relationship: The Politics, Strategy, and Technology of Defense, edited by David G. Haglund and Joel J. Sokolsky

Defense and Dtente: U.S. and West German Perspectives on Defense Policy, Joseph I. Coffey and Klaus von Schubert (forthcoming)

The Politics, Strategy, and Technology of Defense

EDITED BY
David G. Haglund and Joel J. Sokolsky

First published 1989 by Westview Press

Published 2019 by Routledge
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Copyright 1989 by Taylor & Francis

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The U.S.-Canada security relationship: the politics, strategy, and
technology of defense / edited by David G. Haglund and Joel J.
Sokolsky.
p. cm.(Studies in global security)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8133-7685-8
1. CanadaMilitary relationsUnited States. 2. United States
Military relationsCanada. I. Haglund, David G. II. Sokolsky,
Joel J., 1953- . III. Title: US-Canada security relationship.
IV. Title: United States-Canada security relationship. V. Series.
UA600.U18 1989
355'.03307dc19 88-29025
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-29684-1 (hbk)

In 1938, during the midst of the Sudetenland crisis, which threatened another European and perhaps global war, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered an address at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, that explicitly recognized the American security interest in the defense of Canada. Canada's own security interest in the defense of the United States was acknowledged a few days later by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Thus began what has developed into America's longest-standing alliance.

In June 1988, the Queen's Centre for International Relations sponsored a conference on Canada-U.S. security to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Roosevelt address. The chapters in this book originated as papers for that conference. In holding its annual conferences on security issues, the Centre depends upon the generous support of several institutions and individuals, whom we would like to take this opportunity to thank. Foremost is the Canadian Department of National Defence, whose Military and Strategic Studies Program has been an invaluable contributor to the work of the Centre for more than a decade. A Public Programmes grant from the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security helped make possible the publication of this volume. The work of the Centre is enriched by the presence of several Visiting Defence Fellows, senior officers in the Canadian, German, and U.S. armed forces. Finally, all the papers benefited from the expert commentary of discussants at the conference, drawn from a variety of academic and government positions. Taking part were Oran Young, the keynote speaker, and discussants Paul Buteux, David Cox, Ernie Gilman, Ren6 Gutknecht, Peter Haydon, Dan Hayward, David Huddleston, Jim Moore, Kim Nossal, Ron Purver, Tariq Rauf, and Ernie Regehr.

Indispensable, as always, have been the competent and consistent efforts of the Centre's technical staff. In the organization of the conference, and preparation of the manuscripts, Mary Kerr and Kay Ladouceur continued to demonstrate their usual high level of excellence. Marilyn Banting's editorial skills never flagged, despite the heavy demands put on her by the editors. Darrel Reid did yeoman work in laser typesetting this book. Warmly we thank them all.

David G. Haglund
Joel J. Sokolsky

David G. Haglund
and
Joel J. Sokolsky

The fall 1988 Canadian election campaign attracted unprecedented attention in the United States because of its single overriding issue, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The solid parliamentary majority achieved by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative party removed all doubts about its eventual implementation, which was accomplished by year's end.

Not so certain, however, of full implementation in a second Mulroney government is the program outlined in the June 1987 White Paper on defense. During the election, defense issues were eclipsed by the vigorous, often emotional and occasionally even paranoiac, debate over Canada-U.S. free trade, which some in this country argued would result in the erosion perhaps disappearance of Canadian sovereignty. The release of the White Paper had also generated considerable controversy within Canada prior to the election campaign. During the campaign, it is true, defense was overshadowed by the FTA; however, it is expected that as the Conservatives confront the decisions arising out of the White Paper, particularly with regard to capital spending, the defense debate will heat up again.

American audiences are unlikely to take notice of this debate. But they should. Canada, as do other members of the Western Alliance, confronts an array of strategic, political, and technological challenges in the conduct of its defense policy. How it meets these challenges will have profound implications for the future of bilateral military relations with the United States, and indeed for American security interests.

Fifty years ago Franklin Roosevelt gave the first explicit commitment that the United States would not "stand idly by" in the event that Canadian physical security was threatened by a third party. Responding, Canadian Prime Minister One concomitant result of its entry into global security politics has been that the United States extended to its other allies a security guarantee not unlike, in some respects, that which it had earlier given to Canada and which in many ways overshadowed both the prior American pledge and the Canadian response.

In recent years, much has been written on the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the American role in the defense of Europe. Nevertheless, with the European Community moving toward greater economic integration, with a new era of detente and arms control already begun, and with pressures building within the United States for change, it seems likely that steps will be taken to provide for an enhanced European role within the Alliance.

Discussions of the future of NATO in the U.S. or in Europe invariably omit mention of Canada. Although in part due to selective cognition (most non-Canadian analysts of allied affairs simply forget that there are two North American members of the Alliance), the omission is largely a measure of the extent to which Canada's place within NATO has long been trouble-free. To be sure, the Alliance would like Ottawa to spend more than the current 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense. Yet whether Canada does so or not, it is hardly considered crucial to NATO's future. As long as some Canadian air and armored units remain in Germany and the bulk of the small Canadian Navy is earmarked for SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic), and assuming that Canada's diplomats continue to work for allied unity, both Washington and Brussels are satisfied.