Even complex war fighting doctrines like Air-Land Battle, which foresaw a fluid and unpredictable battlefield, still contained highly routinized, automated procedures for the initiation of conflict. NATO's internal battles were referred to countless planning cells that packaged a basic strategic challenge into an array of automated responses. In many respects, scenario construction, contingency planning, war gaming, and repetitive exercises was the glue that held NATO together, staving off the fear of a last minute doublecross. The rock on which the church rested was the Soviet threat. Without that threat, contingency planning collapses.
War gaming is built on a base of sand.
Exercises become intellectual in nature, not preparatory. NATO now operates in a highly undefined set of circumstances. Having debated the meaning of NATO ever since the collapse of communism, NATO suddenly found itself with a mission, one wholly unanticipated. There were no plans, there were no wargames, there had been no exercises and no one was on automatic pilot. Nevertheless, NATO decided to intervene in Kosovo.