Under President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has embarked on a major defence transformation with far-reaching implications for relations with the United States, NATO and European defence more broadly. The new White Paper on French Security and Defence, released in June 2008 after months of internal debate, jettisons a number of precepts and policies that have dominated French defence thinking since the mid l960s. The most controversial change announced in the White Book is Sarkozy's decision to allow France to return to NATO's integrated military command, from which General de Gaulle withdrew France in l966. Sarkozy's decision to bring France back into the Alliance's integrated military structure would have significant security benefits both for France and NATO. It removes an important irritant that has hindered good relations between the United States and France and opens up new possibilities for improving US-European cooperation more broadly. Cooperation between NATO and the EU in particular should become easier with France inside NATO's integrated command.