Detlef Waechter is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.
Detlef Waechter is a visiting scholar in Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program, where his research focuses on NATO, nuclear security, and disarmament policy.
He has been a career diplomat since 1994 and joined the Berlin Federal Chancellery in 2007 as a director, focusing on bilateral relations with the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Turkey; the Iranian Nuclear Program; NATO; and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
From 2005 to 2007, Waechter was assigned to the German Permanent Representation to NATO as the German representative to the NATO-Russia Council Preparatory Committee. Prior to that, he was at the political department of the Federal Foreign Ministry in Berlin (2002–2005) focusing on all-European Security and OSCE. Waechter also served at the German Embassies in Helsinki (1999–2002) and Cairo (1997–1999). From 1994 to early 1997 he worked in various positions at the Federal Foreign Ministry in Bonn, Germany.
Waechter has published a book on British foreign policy.
As NATO debates its future nuclear policy, it should focus on concrete measures to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent in the medium term and avoid abstract debates over complete disarmament or the need to keep nuclear weapons indefinitely.
The Lisbon NATO summit is a critical event for making the Alliance between Europe and North America fit the security challenges of the twenty-first century.
In November, NATO will meet in Lisbon to craft a new Strategic Concept and address the future of its nuclear posture, which has caused controversial debate in recent months both within the Alliance and externally.
When NATO leaders convene in November, they will undertake a reexamination of the alliance’s policy on nuclear weapons, a review that, spurred by recent nonproliferation initiatives, could split NATO’s members if not handled carefully.