Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today proposed reducing NATO forces in Bosnia by a third next year, saying the peacekeeping mission there is placing a strain on the United States and other NATO members "when they face growing demands from critical missions in the war on terrorism."
Addressing defense ministers at the start of a two-day meeting at NATO headquarters focusing on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Rumsfeld said the alliance's 19 member nations need to spend more on defense and prepare for a number of new "asymmetric" threats, such as cyberwar and terrorists armed with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
"It should be of particular concern to all of us," Rumsfeld said, "that the list of countries which today support global terrorism overlaps significantly with the list of countries that have weaponized chemical and biological agents, and which are seeking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the means to deliver them."
Opening the session, Rumsfeld reminded his counterparts that he had warned them during his last trip here to prepare their forces for surprise threats that were difficult to imagine, let alone defend against.
"Sitting around this table six months ago, not one of us imagined that, by the time we would next meet, the World Trade towers would lie smoldering, the Pentagon would have come under attack, coalition forces would be at war in Afghanistan and, for the first time in the history of this alliance, Article V of the NATO Charter would have been invoked."
Article V, invoked on Sept. 12, one day after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, holds that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on the alliance as a whole. Rumsfeld noted that the provision, designed to guarantee American defense of Europe in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union, was put into force so Europe could help defend the United States.
His comments on terrorism were echoed by NATO Secretary General George Robertson, who told reporters after formal talks concluded that the alliance is helping fight the war against Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and is committed to extending the reach of its forces beyond Europe.
"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has an impressive record," Robertson said. "We are at this very moment running three major and successful peace support operations in the Balkans, we're pursuing an ambitious enlargement agenda, we're engaged in a development of a broader, deeper relationship with Russia, and under Article V of the Washington treaty, we're making a significant contribution to the international campaign against terrorism."
But Robertson said NATO nations are not spending enough on defense and noted that "major deficiencies and major shortfalls" exist in the alliance's implementation of the Defense Capabilities Initiative. The program was created after NATO's successful 1999 air campaign in Kosovo to close the yawning gap in military capabilities between the United States and its NATO partners.
"The simple message from the defense ministers of NATO today," Robertson said, "is this: You can't get defense on the cheap."
Asked whether any NATO members had expressed concern about the United States' desire to expand its war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan, Robertson said the issue never came up, and he made it clear that NATO considers itself a partner in the global campaign.
Senior U.S. defense officials said that with 18,000 peacekeepers in Bosnia, 3,100 from the United States, Rumsfeld's proposed reduction could reduce the force by about 6,000 troops. If applied proportionately to all nations' forces, the officials estimated, about 1,000 Americans could go home -- or depart for more pressing overseas assignments.
There are 57,000 peacekeepers in Bosnia, the Serbian province of Kosovo and Macedonia, 8,800 of whom are Americans. A British proposal under consideration to create a unified command in the Balkans could bring about additional reductions, U.S. and NATO officials said.
On the issue of increased NATO cooperation with Russia, afinal communique issued by the defense ministers endorsed a proposal known as "NATO at 20" to "give new impetus and substance" to the nascent relationship. With NATO nations and Russia now meeting as a body called the Permanent Joint Council, the relationship encompasses, among others things, cooperation on counterterrorism and on peacekeeping in the Balkans, where Russian troops are among the NATO-led force.
Rumsfeld also endorsed greater "practical cooperation" between NATO and Russia. But he made it clear that the expanding relationship would have clear limits.
"Our goal should be to find concrete ways for NATO to work together with Russia where interests coincide," Rumsfeld said. "But at the same time, NATO membership must mean something. And NATO must protect its prerogatives of independent decision and action among the 19 signatories. . . . No country should be treated as a de facto member of the alliance, or given privileges that are otherwise denied to NATO aspirants."
The communique confirmed that the heads of state of NATO nations would begin the next round of NATO expansion in November 2002 in Prague, with nine nations applying for membership. One NATO source said that one to five nations could get in, with Slovakia and Slovenia considered front-runners. Other possibilities are the three Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Rumsfeld, addressing his counterparts, said NATO's solidarity under Article V is the principle that will carry the alliance "into the new millennium."
"We are an alliance of democracies, and it is democracy that is under attack," he said. "The terrorists struck us because of what we represent: freedom, religious tolerance and justice."




Washington Post reporter Steve Vogel covers local and regional military issues. His Military Matters column runs every other week.