BRUSSELS (AFP) — The security of US nuclear arms deployed in Europe is a matter for Washington and the host nation, not for NATO, an alliance official said Monday responding to a report outlining shortfalls.
"There is a NATO policy framework for the presence of US nuclear weapons in Europe. But the security details and the handling of those weapons are a matter of bilateral arrangements," the official for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said.
Hundreds of US nuclear weapons are held at air bases in six NATO countries, including Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, along with a total of 200-350 air-launched B-61 bombs, according to non-official US estimates.
An internal US Air Force investigation found that most European air force bases that house US nuclear bombs are failing to meet security requirements to protect the weapons.
The air bases often fall short of US Department of Defense standards, with fencing, lighting and buildings in need of repair and security guards lacking sufficient training and experience, said the document, obtained by the Federation of American Scientists.
"If there are improvements to be made, these are bilateral issues between the country in which the bases are located and the Americans," the NATO official said.
Since the US report was made public German opposition politicians have demanded that US nuclear bombs be removed from the country.
"The nuclear weapons are a hangover from the Cold War and must go," Guido Westerwelle, the head of the liberal opposition Free Democrats, told the Berliner Zeitung daily on Monday.
"If there are any security risks, this is one more reason to remove all nuclear weapons that were kept in Germany for tactical reasons," he added.
But German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told a press briefing Monday that Berlin was for the time bound to NATO accords that agree to use nuclear arms as a military deterrent.
"For the foreseeable future ... we remain of the view that a deterring military capacity includes not only conventional capacity but also nuclear components," Wilhelm said.
Under an accord dating from 1999 "that is still binding, the principle of nuclear weapons as a deterrent has been maintained," he added.
According to US weekly magazine Time, the B-61 bombs could not be detonated if stolen from the European bases because of locks on the devices.
However the weapons-grade nuclear material could be removed and used to create a "dirty bomb," it added.
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