"NATO’s Initiative for a Greener Future The Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society 1969-1983"

The Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) proposed by President Nixon launched in 1969. The Committee facilitated environmental research between the members of the Alliance. Scholarship on the CCMS notes that the Committee served mainly the US’s interest in maintaining unity within NATO. For multiple reasons, the European members of NATO opposed the Committee in its first years of existence. The historiography shows that by 1975 the Committee became accepted by all members of NATO. This thesis research on the CCMS includes the years 1975-1983. Based on internal US documents, this research assesses if the Committee received continued support by the US and European members in the second half of the 1970s and start of the 1980s. Thereby it researches the perception of the members on the pilot studies conducted by the Committee. Moreover, with the end of détente in 1979, US support to NATO’s environmental projected waned. This thesis critically examines the US and. European consideration when the CCMS became reevaluated in 1983.