The important changes that have transpired in European security since the end of the cold war have and will continue to have a noticeable effect upon the future structure of U.S. Army forces forward deployed in Europe. To date, the political debate over the future U.S. presence in Europe has concentrated on the number of personnel to be deployed in that theater, as opposed to discerning what missions the U.S. Army will need to perform in the future. The authors of this report argue that such an approach stands the ,strategic process on its head. Instead, the debate should focus, as the Army has long maintained, first on the capabilities required of U.S. forces in Europe, and then address the numbers of personnel that will be needed to support those capabilities. The authors attempt to identify the key capabilities that will be required of future U.S. Army forces in Europe. Additionally, they posit potential force structure options should personnel strengths in Europe be reduced below currently anticipated levels. Of course, in the final analysis, the exact number of U.S. Army personnel that will remain in Europe is a decision that will be made by the National Command Authority, in close consultation with Congress. However, it is incumbent upon the Army leadership to be prepared to present what capabilities the Army needs to maintain in theater after 1995 to be able to carry out its directed missions. The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to offer this report as a contribution to the debate on the future of the U.S. Army in Europe. Karl W. Robinson Colonel, U.S. Army Director, Strategic Studies Institute Back to Table of Contents Defining US Forward Presence in Europe Back to SSI List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by US Army War College. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com