A Canadian senator for the Defence and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly allegedly presented a report detailing NATO’s deterrence policy, and unintentionally disclosed some of the sites used by the US to store nuclear weapons.
The document entitled “A new era for nuclear deterrence? Modernisation, arms control and allied nuclear forces” was initially published in April, to little fanfare, The Washington Post reported.
However, it appeared that the report allegedly featured around 150 sites where the US stores nukes. Among the countries mentioned in the document were Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
A copy of the initial report that was consequently deleted was published on Tuesday by Belgian newspaper De Morgan.
“These bombs are stored at six US and European bases — Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi-Torre in Italy, Volkel in The Netherlands, and Incirlik in Turkey,” the report reads, cited by The Washington Post.
A final edition of the report was issued last week. The locations of US nuclear weapons had been deleted.
Sen. Joseph Day, the author of the initial report, said that he used “open source material” to prepare his assessment, noting that it was only a draft and that changes were expected, according to The Washington Post.
While commenting on the 'draft' report, an unnamed NATO official told The Washington Post that “this is not an official NATO document.”
He highlighted that it was written by members of the NATO-affiliated body, noting that “We do not comment on the details of NATO’s nuclear posture."
