Excite News [spacer.gif] News Home Top News Video Business Technology Entertainment Sports World Odd [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] AP o Reuters NATO Pledges Muscle, Not Yet Cash, for New Threats [email_this_page_sm.gif] Email this story NATO Pledges Muscle, Not Yet Cash, for New Threats June 6, 2002 1:30 pm EST By John Chalmers and Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Western allies received a chilling U.S. warning on Thursday of a growing threat of biological attack that required pre-emptive action. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States and its 18 NATO allies could not wait for "absolute proof" before acting against terrorist groups and nations which he said were aggressively seeking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. NATO defense ministers he addressed in Brussels pledged radically to transform their armed forces to meet new post-September 11 threats. But European allies, under tight budget constraints, stopped short of agreeing to raise defense spending to counter dangers from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. U.S. officials gave ministers a classified briefing which one participant said included a stark account of the horrendous consequences of a possible smallpox attack on a U.S. city. In a simulation exercise "Dark Winter" in which academics, senators and administration officials participated last year, smallpox spread within 13 days from Oklahoma City to 25 states and 15 foreign countries. Rumsfeld said NATO faced a new security environment and political leaders would have to persuade the public to fund extra investments in new military capabilities. He suggested allies should spend between two and 2.5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, noting that the United States would spend about 3.3 percent this year. Average spending among European allies last year was 1.8 percent. But Rumsfeld said he had no doubt NATO citizens, "when confronted with the possibility of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the kind of people who flew those airplanes into the World Trade Center" would willingly provide a relatively modest fraction of GDP to fund new military investments. MORE SPENDING? NATO Secretary General George Robertson urged the ministers to spend more on military forces to ensure the alliance was able to respond to new threats wherever and whenever they emerged. "The attack on the United States last September brought home to everyone that there is no relief in today's world from the obligations of defense or the need for military preparedness," Robertson said. New French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said recently re-elected President Jacques Chirac had promised that France, not a member of NATO's integrated military structure, would raise military outlays in 2003-4. But no other ally promised to match Washington by hiking defense budgets significantly. "No nation has actually pledged an increase in spending," a senior NATO official said. "But there was full recognition that the effort we are going to undertake will require more money." Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said the new capabilities did not necessarily require higher defense spending because of possible synergies, pooling of resources and specialization by individual allies or teams of countries. The yawning capability gap between the United States and most European allies has raised doubts about whether the alliance will ever again be used to conduct a war. NEW EQUIPMENT The ministers committed themselves to draw up in time for a November NATO summit in Prague a catalog of new equipment they would acquire with fixed dates for delivery. British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said the review would "release resources to take the fight to the terrorists." Robertson said the Prague summit must be a watershed in efforts to ensure forces are properly organized and armed "even if that means additional resources for defense and security." The top priorities -- more targeted than an ineffectual list adopted in 1999 -- would focus on air and sealift, defenses against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, secure and interoperable communications, air-to-air refueling, surveillance and precision-guided munitions. While Rumsfeld indicated the United States and allies might have to take pre-emptive action against potential unconventional threats, Robertson was more cautious, saying NATO was a defensive alliance and "we do not go out looking for problems to solve." The ministers also instructed NATO's military staff to conduct a fundamental review of a military command structure that has changed little since the end of the Cold War. The 19-nation alliance also held its first ministerial meeting with Russia since forging a new forum of equals for cooperation with its Cold War foe in Rome last week. They immediately tackled practical work on the fight against terrorism, non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons and military reform in Russia which Robertson said "represents a new level of openness and transparency." Relations between NATO and Moscow have warmed considerably since Russian President Vladimir Putin aligned his country behind the U.S.-led coalition against terror after September's hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington. Articles From Reuters