ld be branded the aggressor.

Pact members commit a substantial portion, or all, of their fully
trained and equipped units to the pact's use. Committed units are
considered to be part of an integral force. Romanian forces have a role
in pact plans but, because they have failed to participate in several
recent pact maneuvers, Western observers have expressed doubt that the
organization would depend upon effective Romanian cooperation during the
first phase of a major conflict or for any participation in an action
such as the Czechoslovak invasion of 1968.

At the time of the pact's inception, leaders of the various member
states were preoccupied with the security of their countries and their
regimes. A threat from the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
was real to them, as was danger from dissident elements within their own
borders. It is doubtful whether in 1955 any one of the leadership groups
seriously considered that its regime might--by itself or in deference to
the wishes of its people--undertake economic or social practices or
deviate from the ideology in ways that could be considered dangerous to
the solidarity of the alliance. By 1965, however, Romania had embarked
upon an independent course, to the extent that it, like Czechoslovakia,
had reason to fear that it could be the object of retaliatory pact
action.

In his Bucharest Declaration of July 1966, Nicolae Ceausescu--who at
that time was head of the party but had not yet taken over as chief of
state--announced that he considered the Warsaw Pact a temporary alliance
and that it would lose its validity if NATO were to cease functioning.
Then, in 1968, Romania openly supported the Czechoslovak government,
denounced the pact's invasion of that country, and did not participate
in it. Since that time Romania has not permitted other Warsaw Pact
forces either to hold exercises on its soil or to cross it for maneuvers
in another country. As a result, Bulgaria can send forces to other
Eastern European countries only by air or by way of the Black Sea and
the Soviet Union. Pact exercises held in Bulgaria during the summer of
1971 were performed by Bulgarian troops; other countries, including
Romania, sent observers.

In addition to holding its military relations with the Warsaw Pact to a
minimum, Romania's armed forces have attempted to make contacts with the
military establishments in other countries. A military delegation
visited Yugoslavia in 1971, and