Why not extended deterrence from Romania? U.S. phased adaptive approach (EPAA) and NATO's ballastic defense (BMD) site at Deveselu Air Base in Romania

摘要

In September 2011, the United States and Romania signed the cooperative anti-missile agreement for the United States to build, operate, and maintain ballistic missile defense (BMD) system elements at Deveselu Air Base, the previously confirmed selection for the Romanian site of Phase II of the so-called European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA). The plans envision Deveselu Air Base hosting land-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors by 2015, as part of the Aegis Ashore (AA) System. This vision is important because the United States, Romania, and other NATO allies face ballistic missile threats, particularly amid the increasingly unsettled situation in the Middle East. The EPAA also marks a major development in the broader context of policy and strategy, both within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and between NATO and other states in the regions, as NATO and the United States thereby both significantly extend deterrence in expanding their BMD reach. This thesis tests how the plans for the deployment of U.S. BMD system elements in Romania reflect and support the U.S. and trans-Atlantic Alliance strategic purposes and what the political significance of this deployment is in U.S.-Romanian relations, in U.S. relations with other NATO allies and in the Alliance as a whole, and in U.S.-Russian and NATO-Russian relations.