Nation states develop and pursue foreign policy based upon their national goals and interests. In their attempts to realize these goals and because of different perceptions of reality, competition develops which may even lead to conflict. An increase in conflict between nation states can lead to war. In this age of nuclear weapons, it is in every nation's best interest to seek conflict resolution prior to the outbreak of hostilities. The advent of nuclear weapons with their massive lethality and destructive capability forced nations to rethink their attitudes toward war and the entire spectrum of conflict. The mere existence of these weapons threaten the nations that developed them as a means of protection. Nuclear weapons are a means which if used, they may very well lead to the destruction of the ends that are sought. Rationality suppresses actions which might lead to absolute war as defined by Clausewitz for fear of total annihilation of the nation. So with weapons of such devastation and such high risks of total destruction in the event of war, the wise and prudent action by a nation is to seek a condition of stable equilibrium in which neither side sees any possibility of gain in a direct military confrontation. In a global perspective, this condition of stable equilibrium evolves into strategic stability. The term strategic stability is surrounded by tremendous controversy. In the text of this monograph it is defined as a situation between adversaries in which they are deterred from war on a strategic level (involving attacks against industrial base, center of population, or strategic military forces). The purpose of this paper is to examine U.S. national military strategy and assess to what extent current military doctrine on the employment of conventional forces has kept pace with the realities of the nuclear age. I will examine the viability and role of conventional forces in NATO and give an assessment of their deterrence credibility and contribution to t
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