but by an
elaborate transatlantic network of former NATO officials, defence intellectuals,
military officers, journalists and policy analysts, all of whose professional lives
have been devoted to addressing the security issues facing the 'Atlantic
community'. Ending the alliance would liquidate the principal professional
achievement of this transnational community and foreclose the continuing series
of transatlantic conferences that these élites have long enjoyed. One can safely
expect these élites to resist pressures to dismantle the Alliance, even if it had
outlived its usefulness.33