In this assessment, Norway's investigations into its defeat helped shape its Cold War defence policy. Norway joined NATO, examined its strategic value and threats, and worked to raise the cost of attacking it. One explanation for censuring individuals without imprisoning them is that responsibility extended through decades of political decisions and inadequate investment. The reductions of the 1930s weakened forces that were already insufficient for Norway's security. Clarke acknowledges that his perspective as a naval historian makes those decisions especially difficult for him to understand. The unanswered question is whether officials failed to recognize the readiness questions they needed to ask or simply did not ask them. Every country entered the Second World War with deficiencies, but the judgment here is that Norway lacked even the basic preparation needed to resist.
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Norway's postwar defence policy and the lessons of 1940
Postwar Norway responded by examining its vulnerabilities, joining NATO, and treating defence as a continuing effort to raise the cost of attack.