Washington's position was unambiguously stated by several top administration officials, including Defence Secretary William Cohen, after the new German government stunned the world over the weekend by publicly pressing the US to pledge that NATO would never be the first to use nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

The suggestion militates against the established American doctrine of a first use option, even against non-nuclear adversaries. Germany's plea was rejected out of hand on Monday by the Clinton administration, which was said to be ``shocked and angered'' by the new line put out by the newly elected government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

``We think that the ambiguity involved in the issue of the use ofnuclear weapons contributes to our own security, keeping any potential adversary who might use either chemical or biological unsure of what our response would be,'' Defence Secretary Cohen told reporters on Monday.

US officials say they expected the new German government, compounded of Schroeder's Socialist Democrats and environmentalist Greens, to maintain continuity with Bonn's foreign policy and security outlook. They fear that a sudden change in the deterrence strategy would undermine NATO, which they say has secured peace in Europe for 50 years.

But the new German government is seeking changes in NATO's nuclear doctrine because it believes the security aspects have changed following the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union. The German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping is in Washington this week to convey his government's new line and Bonn has said it will raise the issue at an upcoming meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels on December 8 and 9.

``The situation in terms of securitypolicy has been fundamentally transformed... this should be discussed openly within the Atlantic alliance,'' German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said in an interview last week to the German magazine Der Spiegel.

The Americans are not amused. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Scharping on Monday and conveyed the US viewpoint on the first use option, a doctrine that many believe is losing ground even domestically. ``We are aware that some in Germany want to bring up the issue of no first use. Let me say that in out view, nuclear option has played a key role in ending the Cold War, and they remain a key element in ensuring the coupling of security of North America and Europe,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

The new German government first served notice of its policy shift when it incorporated the no-first-use pledge in the governing program issued by the coalition of Social Democrats and Greens. Soon after, it proved that it was serious about this change when it broke rankswith its NATO nuclear allies -- US, Britain and France -- and abstained from a UN motion on nuclear disarmament put forward by neutral countries including India.