THE ALLIES THE NATO DETERRENT ALMOST AS OLD AS NATO ITSELF IS 
THE " DISARRAY " THAT SEEMS TO HAUNT ITS COUNCILS . 
YET ALLIED DIFFERENCES ARE NOT SO MUCH SYMPTOMS OF ANY DEEP-ROOTED 
DISUNITY AS THE RESULT OF NATO'S MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS . BECAUSE THEY 
KNOW THAT THEY ARE SECURE BEHIND THE U.S . NUCLEAR SHIELD, 
FEW EUROPEAN NATIONS ARE EAGER TO BUILD UP CONVENTIONAL FORCES FOR 
WHICH THEY SEE LITTLE USE . AT THE SAME TIME, AS 
THEY HAVE GROWN MORE POWERFUL AND PROSPEROUS, EUROPEANS HAVE COME TO 
QUESTION TOTAL U.S . CONTROL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR THE FORESEEABLE 
FUTURE . THUS DEPENDENCE BREEDS MISTRUST . CHARLES DE GAULLE IS 
NOT THE ONLY EUROPEAN TO FEAR THAT THE U.S . CANNOT 
BE COUNTED UPON TO RISK DESTRUCTION OF ITS CITIES IF RUSSIA 
WERE TO ATTACK WESTERN EUROPE DESPITE REPEATED U.S . ASSURANCES OF 
ITS LONG-TERM STRATEGIC COMMITMENT TO EUROPE, AND HEEDLESS OF THE FACT 
THAT 400,000 G.I.S ON THE CONTINENT ARE A PERMANENT U.S . 
HOSTAGE TO EUROPE'S SECURITY . YET NEITHER FRANCE'S EMBRYONIC FORCE DE 
FRAPPE NOR BRITAIN'S NEAR-OBSOLETE V-BOMBER STRIKE FORCE CARRIES SUFFICIENT PUNCH TO 
DETER, LET ALONE DEFEAT, AN AGGRESSOR . FINE WATCHES . LAST 
WEEK, IN AN ATTEMPT TO SOOTHE EUROPE'S RESTIVENESS BY GIVING ITS 
ALLIES GREATER RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN SECURITY, THE U.S . MADE 
ITS MOST SERIOUS PITCH YET TO SHARE THE PLANNING AND CONTROL 
OF ATOMIC WEAPONS IN EUROPE WITH EUROPEANS THEMSELVES . BEFORE NATO'S 
15MEMBER PERMANENT COUNCIL IN PARIS, PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S SPECIAL ENVOY, LIVINGSTON MERCHANT, 
PROPOSED CREATION OF A MULTINATIONAL NUCLEAR DETERRENT CONSISTING OF A FLEET 
OF SURFACE SHIPS EQUIPPED WITH THE U.S . POLARIS MISSILE . 
KEY PROVISION OF THE PLAN IS THAT THE SHIPS WOULD BE 
" MULTIMANNED, " I.E., THEIR CREWS WOULD BE DRAWN FROM EVERY 
NATO NATION THAT WOULD BE WILLING TO HELP FOOT THE BILL 
. COST OF THE INTERNATIONAL TASK FORCE WOULD BE ABOUT $2 
BILLION FOR 200 MISSILES AND THEIR FLOATING LAUNCH PADS ; IT 
WOULD TAKE AT LEAST THREE YEARS TO BUILD, ABOUT HALF AS 
MUCH IN TIME AND MONEY AS IT WOULD TAKE TO CREATE 
A MULTINATIONAL NUCLEAR POLARIS SUBMARINE FLEET . ORIGINALLY, IN FACT, THE 
U.S . HAD HASTILY SUGGESTED THAT MULTI-MANNED, MULTINATIONAL POLARIS SUBMARINES MIGHT 
BE A LOGICAL PROGRESSION FROM THE INDEPENDENT POLARIS SUBS THAT BRITAIN 
HAS AGREED TO BUILD (BUT HAS COMMITTED TO NATO) . APART 
FROM THE COST, HOWEVER, CONGRESS HAS ALREADY INDICATED THAT IT IS 
DEAD SET AGAINST GIVING U.S . ALLIES THE COMPONENTS OR KNOW-HOW 
TO BUILD THE SUBMARINES . MOREOVER, OLD NAVAL HANDS ARE AGHAST 
AT THE PROSPECT OF MANNING SUBMARINES WITH CREWS OF MIXED NATIONALITIES 
. WARNED A WEST GERMAN NAVAL EXPERT LAST WEEK : " 
SUB CREWS ARE THE FINE WATCHES OF NAVAL WARFARE . THERE 
CAN BE NO ROOM FOR MISUNDERSTANDING . / FORCE OR FARCE 
? AS FOR WHOSE FINGER WILL BE ON THE TRIGGER OF 
THE NEW SURFACE FLEET, THE U.S . AGREES THAT EACH PARTICIPATING 
ALLY WILL HAVE AN EQUAL VETO . FOR ALL THE ARGUMENT 
IT PROVOKES, HOWEVER, THE QUESTION OF CONTROL IS LARGELY ACADEMIC ; 
THE FINGERS WOULD BE UNANIMOUS . " DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE 
THAT EUROPE WILL WANT TO SHOOT THIS THING OFF WITHOUT BEING 
SURE THAT THE MAJOR U.S . FORCE WOULD BE USED ? 
" ASKED A U.S . STRATEGIST . " CONSIDERING IT AS 
A SECOND STRIKE FORCE, THE SEMANTICS OF VOTING BECOMES IRRELEVANT . 
/ SEVEN NATO PARTNERS BRITAIN, BELGIUM, ITALY, GREECE, THE NETHERLANDS, TURKEY, 
WEST GERMANY WERE IMMEDIATELY RECEPTIVE TO MERCHANT'S PROPOSAL . WEST GERMANY 
EXPRESSED THE WARMEST INTEREST ; THE BRITISH LOOKED ON THE SCHEME 
WITH " MILD BENEVOLENCE . " BUT ALL SEVEN WANTED TO 
HEAR MORE ABOUT IT, AND ALLOWED THAT THE PRICE WAS HIGH 
AND THE PAYOFF DISTANT . MEANWHILE, ALL BUT A FRACTION OF 
THE EXISTING WESTERN ATOMIC STOCKPILE WOULD REMAIN UNDER U.S . LOCK 
AND KEY . THE PROPOSAL WAS COLDLY RECEIVED IN FRANCE, WHERE 
THE GAULLIST DAILY LA NATION EVEN DUBBED THE PROSPECT OF A 
MULTILATERAL FORCE " LA FARCE MULTILATERALE . / IF THE POLARIS 
PLAN HAD BEEN TOUTED AS A SIGNIFICANT BOOST TO THE WEST'S 
DETERRENT, THE GIBE MIGHT HAVE BEEN JUSTIFIED . AS IT WAS, 
THE JOKE FELL FLAT BECAUSE A JOINTLY MANNED, JOINTLY FINANCED ARMADA 
MAY ACTUALLY OFFER SOLID BENEFITS FOR BOTH THE U.S . AND 
EUROPE . ARTS COURSE . FOR THE FIRST TIME, A MULTINATIONAL 
DETERRENT WOULD ALLOW EUROPEANS TO COLLABORATE WITH THE U.S . FROM 
SCRATCH IN TARGETING, CONTINGENCY PLANNING AND CONTROL OF ATOMIC WEAPONS ; 
IT WOULD SATISFY THEIR ACUTE DESIRE FOR ATOMIC KNOWHOW BY GIVING 
THEM A THOROUGH EDUCATION IN COMPLEX TECHNOLOGICAL AND FINANCIAL NUCLEAR REALITIES 
. FOR BOTH SIDES, IT WOULD PROVIDE AN ADDED, SUBSTANTIAL TOKEN 
OF U.S . DETERMINATION TO REMAIN IN EUROPE AND DEFEND ITS 
ALLIES WITH THE ULTIMATE WEAPON, IF NECESSARY . SAYS A U.S 
. DEFENSE PLANNER : " THIS IS ONE THING THAT CAN 
PUT GLUE IN THE ALLIANCE . " AS MERCHANT PREPARED TO 
LEAVE PARIS THIS WEEK FOR A SERIES OF BRIEFINGS ON THE 
PLAN IN ROME, BRUSSELS, BONN AND LONDON, ANOTHER U.S . DIPLOMAT 
POINTED OUT AN EVEN GREATER INCENTIVE TO PARTICIPATE : " THOSE 
NATIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FORCE WILL KNOW MORE ABOUT THE 
MISSILE ARTS IN A YEAR THAN THE FRENCH DO . / 
