Inside NATO’s once-secret nuclear exercise : NPR
For the first time, NATO has allowed journalists to witness its annual nuclear exercise, a once-secret event that now serves as both a show of transparency and a message of deterrence to Russia.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Charles has just spoken to us about tensions between Russia and the United States. Now let’s look at tensions between Russia and NATO in the context of the war in Ukraine and Russian drone strikes across Europe. This week, Russia tested its nuclear readiness, and a senior Kremlin official warned of a potential for, quote, “a head-on clash between nuclear powers.” This came after NATO tried a surprising new tactic to try to prevent nuclear attacks. He made public a training exercise of his own nuclear exercises. Journalist Teri Schultz attended one of these NATO exercises in the Netherlands and sent us this report from Volkel Air Base.
TERI SCHULTZ: Takeoffs like this used to be top secret.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE ROAR)
SCHULTZ: This year, for the first time, journalists had a front row seat.
UNIDENTIFIED AIR BASE OFFICIAL: You have a nice long and wide view of the F-35s and Tornadoes taking off.
SCHULTZ: Oh, cool.
UNIDENTIFIED AIR BASE OFFICIAL: So that’s good.
SCHULTZ: F-35…
Good and groundbreaking – for years, the very existence of this nuclear exercise and even its name – Steadfast Noon – were so highly classified that NATO officials, including the alliance’s former arms control director, William Alberque, were not allowed to utter the words.
WILLIAM ALBERQUE: I mean, I would have been in jail if, in 2016, I had said the words Steadfast Noon in public.
SCHULTZ: Those rules were finally relaxed just four years ago when Steadfast Noon was made public, but Alberque was still shocked to learn that journalists had been invited this year to witness NATO warplanes practicing the hypothetical deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons at one of six European military bases where they have been stored since the 1950s, the ultimate deterrent of NATO. This is close to the North Sea.
ALBERQUE: It’s truly unprecedented to have journalists there to watch a nuclear strike assessment exercise. In reality, this was a turning point due to Putin’s reckless war against Ukraine to allies who renewed their need to speak to their audiences and increase their knowledge, which then increases their confidence, which allows them to make their arguments better.
SCHULTZ: Now at the Pacific Forum Research Institute, Alberque’s mission is to help people understand nuclear policy. But even if he, as a former head of the alliance, can draw the conclusion that Russia’s saber-rattling prompted NATO to reverse course on transparency, current officials are not yet that open. On the rainy tarmac, U.S. Air Force Col. Daniel Bunch, NATO’s chief of nuclear operations, avoids any identification of a specific adversary during the exercises that involve some 2,000 troops and 70 aircraft from 14 NATO members.
DANIEL BUNCH: We need to be able to talk to our populations about the capabilities of real threats in this world.
SCHULTZ: But why didn’t you need to talk about this five years ago, and now you do?
BUNCH: The world has changed. We see different threats, and NATO is committed to transparency in our democratic systems, and that’s part of demonstrating our capabilities and making sure everyone is aware of what we can accomplish.
SCHULTZ: One of the Dutch pilots participating in the exercise, identified only by his first initial B, even on his uniform, in accordance with military protocol, said the light now shone on the exercise does not take away the weight of his responsibility.
B: The burden we have – obviously it’s not a normal weapon. This is the highest form of violence that we have within NATO to deter our allies, to keep NATO safe, but also to keep the families of NATO members safe.
SCHULTZ: According to William Alberque, the publicity will help Pilot B and his counterparts convince the Kremlin that NATO’s capabilities are impressive enough that they should never consider nuclear conflict. He says he is encouraged that it is one of the results of what NATO considers to be an updated nuclear policy.
ALBERQUE: It really means, in addition to the technical aspects, that there is also a huge public affairs element to this, that they decided to have more courage to be more public. There are people in the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Putin administration who will look at journalists on site at a NATO nuclear exercise and say, oh, that’s different. I didn’t have that on my bingo card for 2025.
SCHULTZ: He’s right that Russian officials were watching. Even as Moscow deployed its own nuclear exercise a few days ago, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the joint Steadfast Noon exercises deeply destabilizing. For NPR News, I’m Teri Schultz at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands.
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