Last December, NATO commemorated the 50th anniversary of the “Report of the Council on the Future Tasks of the Alliance,” more commonly known as the Harmel Report. Initiated by Pierre Harmel, the former Belgian minister of foreign affairs, the report not only averted permanent damage to the Alliance that could have resulted from policy disagreements among Allies, but also directly led to the launch of a number of initiatives to stop the arms race and ease East-West tensions. Unfortunately, much of the significance of this document has faded into history.
