Defense chiefs say NATO must modernize
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-05 09:43

NATO needs to launch a new modernization drive to keep it from sliding into irrelevance in the face of today's threats from terrorism and regional unrest, defense chiefs of the Atlantic Alliance warned on Saturday.

"NATO is not simply guaranteed to survive and prosper as the cornerstone of the collective security we need," British Defense Secretary John Reid said. "It must change. ... NATO today faces greater threats to its long-term future than ever it did at the height of the Cold War."

The alliance has been working for years to upgrade its armaments in an effort to narrow the gulf between U.S. military might and European armies — with only patchy success. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bluntly told allies they needed to spend more to push that overhaul forward.

"Unless we invest in our defense and security, our homelands will be at risk," he said.

In this photo provided by the International Conference on Security Policy, Jaap de Hoop Scheffers, NATO Secretary General, left, and U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, right, meet prior to the International Conference on Security Policy in Munich, southern Germany, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006.[AP]

He complained that just seven of the 26 NATO allies spend more than 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense — compared with 3.7 percent in the United States. Rumsfeld's words were backed by his counterparts from Britain and France, who are among the bigger European defense spenders.

Besides spending more, the allies need to spend better, said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

He urged allied governments to agree by an alliance summit in November to set up a joint fund to finance operations, to replace the current system whereby nations that provide troops for expensive missions such as peacekeeping in Afghanistan or the recent humanitarian operation in Pakistan have to cover their own costs.

"We need to share the costs more fairly," de Hoop Scheffer said.

He also expressed growing exasperation over what he called an "absurd" failure to improve coordination between NATO and the European Union's defense arm.

"It means we are duplicating each other's efforts," he told the meeting.

Although the two organizations share 19 members, cooperation has been held up by Turkey, which is reluctant to share sensitive information with EU member Cyprus, and by France, which fears efforts to develop a more independent EU defense policy could be threatened by closer ties with NATO.

De Hoop Scheffer also stressed the need for NATO to develop closer ties with like-minded democracies such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

French Defense Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie warned that NATO should take care not to overstretch itself. In particular she cautioned against the alliance's "systematically" taking on humanitarian operations like those last year in Pakistan after a major earthquake and in the United States after Hurricane Katrina.

"This has to remain an exception," Alliot-Marie said. "NATO is not the best organization for civil reconstruction or natural disasters."