Huntington, Samuel P. "Conventional Deterrence and Conventional Retaliation in Europe." International Security v. 8, n. 3 (1983): 32-56.

For a quarter century the slow but continuing trend in NATO strategy – and in thinking about NATO strategy – has been from emphasis on nuclear deterrence to emphasis on conventional deterrence. When it became clear that the famous Lisbon force goals of 1952, embodied in MC 14/1 has no hope of realization, NATO strategy appropriately stressed the deterrent role of nuclear weapons, in terms of both massive retaliation by US strategic forces and the early use of tactical nuclear weapons on western Europe. This strategy was codified in MC 14/2. Shortly thereafter, however, the development of Soviet strategic nuclear capabilities and, more particularly, the massive deployment by the Soviets of theater nuclear weapons raised serious questions aas o the desirability of NATO’s relying overwhelmingly on early use of nuclear weapons to deter Soviet attack.

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