He was serving as chief French representative to the permanent group of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Washington in 1960 when he was promoted to général d'armée.

In his book 1940: The Fall of France, Beaufre writes: "The collapse of the French Army is the most important event of the 20th century".

He later gave his views on France's fall during interviews for the now famous production by Thames Television, The World at War, Episode 3 French Indochina, 1952, General Beaufre was the leader of the group for NATO tactical studies.

He was considering a structure of small buried defensive positions for protection against nuclear strike – they were called the shield (‘bouclier’).

In order to intervene in the vast vacant spaces he was suggesting using very light and mobile troops equipped with nuclear cannons.

Freshly coming from Indochina and poorly informed about the popular and national character of this new conflict, the troops had been struck hard by Krim Belkacem’s partisans.

In Beaufre's theory, the battlefield must be extended to encompass all aspects of a civil society, particularly social and ideological spheres, such as the radio and the classroom.

A multi-component strategy developed by the security establishment, drawing upon the experience of other countries in counter-revolutionary warfare and low-intensity conflict, and refining and adding to such techniques within the South African context.

This concept also found its way into the management of water resources flowing in rivers that cross international political borders, specifically in South Africa.

[1][2][3][4][5] During the early 1960s Beaufre came to prominence as a theoretical military strategist and as an advocate of the independent French nuclear force, which was a major priority of President Charles de Gaulle.

This equilibrium-through-terror axiom ruled during the Cold War and prevented a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.