Last week, NATO defense ministers agreed to send ships to waters near Somalia's coast to deter and combat piracy there.
This week NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss cybersecurity.
In 1991, NATO defense ministers approved a radical shakeup of its forces in post-cold war Europe, including creation of a Rapid Reaction Force.
"But I'm sure we will rise to the occasion the way we have many times before, " Gates told a news conference in Krakow, Poland, where NATO defense ministers were meeting.
When I and others briefed NATO defense ministers about this discovery, however, Britain's Michael Heseltine -- then the Minister for Defense in Margaret Thatcher's government -- strenuously refused to agree that the Krasnoyarsk radar breached the ABM Treaty.
Russia has been menacing its East European neighbors, including those, like Poland, that have offered to host elements of a NATO missile-defense system to protect Europe.
We need to build on the efforts of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, based in Tallinn, Estonia, which conducts research, training and regular exercises to test the rapid-response capabilities of allied cyber-units.
The chair of the European affairs committee in the Czech Parliament Ondrej Liska says if the U.S. wants to protect NATO countries with missile defense, it should get the explicit, collective consent of NATO members.
Moscow is threatening to stop cooperation with NATO on its missile defense program.
The company also has contracts with the Department of Defense, NATO, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.
If Georgia does eventually become a full member, support and defense from other NATO nations is part of the package.
Russian officials have been up in arms about the new missile defense program of NATO since the start of the year.
The NATO countries are reducing their defense budgets and cutting military capabilities.
But Blair is likely to hold firm against moves to shift responsibility for European defense away from NATO and the influence of the United States.
In 1995, defense ministers from NATO and European Union countries agreed to set up a "rapid reaction force" to protect embattled U.N. peacekeeping troops from Bosnian Serb aggression.
Ellen Tauscher, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security said this week that the U.S. was ready to offer Russia written assurances that the NATO-backed Euro missile defense shield being built is not directed against the country.
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The countries share deep concerns of a future military threat from the east -- namely, Russia -- and may now look for other defense assurances from their NATO allies.
Russia was invited to participate in the discussion about the new missile defense shield at a NATO summit in Lisbon in 2010, despite the fact that the country is not a member.
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But, again, we have our interests that we're very clear with the Russians about, which is that we believe there's a national security interest for the United States and our NATO allies to pursue this missile defense system.
Nor was it an acute flareup of the longstanding dispute over the equity of defense burden sharing among the NATO nations.
"We believe that missile defense is a substantial contribution to NATO's collective security, " said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Indeed, that proportion is roughly twice the percentage of GNP allocated to defense by seven out of fourteen NATO nations.
British Defense Minister Michael Portillo said all NATO nations were determined to adhere to the 12-month time limit for the 60, 000-strong Implementation Force (IFOR) to remain in the former Yugoslavia.
Tensions had earlier flared between the Syrian regime and Turkey after shells fired from Syria landed on the Turkish side, killing five Turks, and prompting Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. to send two batteries of Patriot air defense missiles each to protect their NATO ally.
It means that NATO will now have an operationally meaningful ballistic missile defense mission.
At the November 2010 NATO-Russia Council Summit, NATO and Russia committed to exploring opportunities for missile defense cooperation.
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Coalition partners, including many NATO Allies, have nuclear, chemical and biological defense-related capabilities and expertise that can play an important role.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is among European leaders also pushing for the issue of American missile defense in Europe to be handled through NATO, not bilaterally.
Bush also said he was confident of persuading NATO members to back U.S. missile defense plans, which includes building bases in member states Poland and the Czech Republic.
Moscow, therefore, could treat this as an opportunity for leverage on other issues, whether it be missile defense as we discussed last week, NATO membership talks for Ukraine and Georgia, U.S.-Russia trade issues, or a new nuclear arms limitation treaty.
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