Switzerland lies landlocked in Western Europe, a small densely populated nation of nearly seven million people. To the west lies France, to the south Italy and to the north and east, West Germany and Austria. By modern jet fighter, it is ten minutes from the Warsaw Pact nations of Eastern Europe. Since 1815 Switzerland has remained an inviolate island of peace in the midst of war. Even Adolph Hitler's Wehrmacht, which conquered all of Europe in the early months of World War II, chose not to attack Switzerland despite the fact that the small country was in the crossroads of Western Europe.

Switzerland is, of course, neutral, but it was not mere respect for its neutrality which kept the Nazi armies and others before it out of the tiny country. It was the determination of the Swiss people to defend their neutrality and the credibility of their means to do so. That determination remains alive today in the face of weapons of mass destruction. So, too, does the credibility of the means. Within 48 hours, the Swiss can field an army of more than 600,00 men, 100,000 more than the present army of West Germany. Today, it can provide shelter space for 85 percent of its civilian population and by the 1990s intends to have shelter space for the entire population. War supplies, medical supplies and food supplies are meticulously stored in more than 100 kilometers of tunnels. About 4,000 permanent obstacles and barriers and more than 2,000 demolition devices are now in place, ready to hamper and block an aggressor's progress. In short, Switzerland is an armed bunker.

Yet, there is no standing Army, no bunker mentality, no enormous drain on the Swiss economy, no militaristic threat to Europe's oldest and most fiercely independent democracy.

How the Swiss have achieved this credible deterrent to invasion is the subject of this report. The Swiss security system is unique as well as an example of what a democratic nation can accomplish by applying reason and logic to problems which have been realistically and carefully analyzed.

HISTORY

Niccolo Machiavelli, the 15th century Italian student of power, remarked of the Swiss, "They are the most armed -- and most free people in Europe." Indeed, Switzerland was born in the 13th century out of a desire to be free of domination by the Habsburg family. In 1291 three Swiss cantons signed the Perpetual Covenant which marked the beginning of the Swiss Confederation. In the 1300s, the Swiss fought several wars for independence with Austria and in 1499 Switzerland won its independence from the Holy Roman Empire.

The policy of neutrality originated in 1515 when the Swiss suffered a stunning defeat by the French, but that early neutrality did not save it from an invasion and occupation by the French under Napoleon in 1798. The Congress of Vienna of 1815 restored Swiss independence and guaranteed its neutrality.

Switzerland adopted a new constitution in 1848, modeled somewhat after the American constitution and this was amended in 1874 to increase the federal government's powers in military and court matters, although the cantons (equivalent to American states) generally retain considerably more power than American states.

The Swiss economy today is built around precision manufacturing, chemicals, banking, and tourism. It has one of the highest standards of living in the world and the land is criss-crossed by a 3,150-mile railroad network and 30,000 miles of hard-surfaced roads. Three major rivers have their origin in Switzerland -- the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po. Most of the population and most of the agriculture are located in the plateau region between the Jura and the Alps. Swiss agriculture can produce only three-fifths of the nation's food supply, a factor carefully weighed in the Swiss security system planning. The nation is greatly dependant on imports for food and most raw materials for its industry, including oil, natural gas, and coal.

Since 1815 the Swiss have not fought in a foreign war, yet they have maintained the tradition of a citizen army and rifle and pistol shooting are among the nation's most popular sports with almost every village having a shooting range, over 3,000 ranges in all.

Today Switzerland maintains its neutrality, but practices what it calls solidarity -- participating in international humanitarian projects, offering its good offices in the resolution of disputes, and providing technical assistance to Third World countries. The Swiss participate in those international activities and organizations which do not require it to violate its policy of neutrality. Neutrality is central to Swiss thinking and, in fact, is the determining factor in the Swiss security system.

SWISS STRATEGIC THINKING

Divisionnaire Major General Edmund Muller, deputy chief of staff, logistics, summarized Swiss strategic thinking this way:

"Historical experience shows that if a nation is not able to defend itself and to protect its spiritual and material values, it will become, sooner or later, the target of power politics and force. Efforts to defend ourselves against force are therefore still necessary. These efforts must be integrated within a comprehensive security policy expressed in the form of clear guidelines. Our government is convinced that we can successfully undertake peace-keeping efforts in the future only if we can ensure at the same time our own security in a credible way. The security policy of a country is only credible if a realistic evaluation of the threats and a sober estimation of its own possibilities lead to the implementation of a concept capable of inspiring confidence at home and respect abroad."

The words, "credible", "respect", "realistic", and "planning" occur over and over in Swiss defense documents and briefings. To a remarkable degree, the Swiss government has approached its problems in a supremely logical manner, setting out basic premises and drawing the correct inferences.

The objectives of the security policy are set forth as follows: (1) preservation of peace in independence; (2) preservation of freedom of action; (3) protection of the population; and (4) defense of the territory.

Each of these objectives has been carefully analyzed and the choice of words is not careless. What the Swiss mean by "Peace in independence" is made clear in the following excerpt from a report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly:

"The preservation of peace -- no matter how much we are interested in it -- is not an end in itself. It can neither be separated from the preservation of self-determination nor can one be played off against the other. Our goal is peace in independence; both aspects are therefore of equal importance."

In defining preservation of freedom of action, the Swiss make clear they mean freedom from foreign pressures, which can be achieved only by having available a powerful means of resisting them and freedom from internal pressure generated by illegal means or the use of force.