NATO Europe is an underestimated factor in strategic arms control. NATO Europe was the nemesis of the SALT II process. Europe feared an early SALT ratification. The SALT process was artificially delayed in order to create a 'time window' for an INF deployment. NATO sought negotiation currency prior to the start of the planned SALT III negotiations. The NATO dual track decision killed the SALT II treaty. Superpower détente was the victim. The Second Cold War originated in Europe and not on the periphery.

This multi-archival research monograph analyzes the penetration of US decision-making under the Carter Administration, the limitation of the influence of NATO Europe to non-central systems and the re-nationalization of US decision-making under the Reagan Administration. The latter paved the way to the arms control breakthrough of the mid-1980s.