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Since the end of the Cold War, Greenland has played a more limited role in global security policy. Nevertheless, an intensive debate has taken place in the Danish media about Greenland's role in the Cold War, with a significant polarization of opinion concerning the American presence in Greenland. This debate and the discussion about openness in the existing sources on the subject gave rise to the preparation of a 1997 report from the nongovernmental Danish Institute of International Affairs called Greenland During the Cold War, on U.S. overflights of Greenland with atomic weapons and the role of Thule Air Base during the period from 1945 to 1968.
In 1999, the Danish Atlantic Treaty Association prepared a study under the Danish title Grønland i et Sikkerhedspolitisk Perspektiv (Greenland in a Security Policy Perspective), written by Jørgen Taagholt and Jens Claus Hansen. The study appeared as part of the Danish Atlantic Treaty Association's series Den Nye Sikkerhed (The New Security). The authors emphasized Greenland's role during the Cold War and the future security policy implications of Greenland. The status of the Danish defense role in Greenland is considered only to a limited extent.
This book is an English translation of that study. The translation was done by Daniel Lufkin, and there have been modifications by the authors to this version. This English version was published by ARCUS with funding by the National Science Foundation.