IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 468
Affirming the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
supporting continued United States participation in NATO, ensuring
that the enlargement of NATO proceeds in a manner consistent with
United States interests, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 27, 2002
Mr. GALLEGLY (for himself, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. COX) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
International Relations
RESOLUTION
Affirming the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Orga-
nization (NATO), supporting continued United States
participation in NATO, ensuring that the enlargement
of NATO proceeds in a manner consistent with United
States interests, and for other purposes.
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Transatlantic
Security and NATO Enhancement Resolution of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The House of Representatives makes the following
findings:
•HRES 468 IH
(1) Since 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Orga-
nization (NATO) has played an essential role in
guaranteeing the security, freedom, and prosperity
of the United States and its partners in the Alliance.
(2) NATO, founded on the principles of democ-
racy, individual liberty, and the rule of law, has
proved to be an indispensable instrument for forging
a trans-Atlantic community of nations working to-
gether to safeguard the freedom and common herit-
age of its peoples and promoting stability in the
North Atlantic area.
(3) NATO is the only institution that promotes
a uniquely transatlantic perspective and approach to
issues concerning the security of North America and
Europe and remains the only multilateral security
organization demonstrably capable of conducting ef-
fective military operations and preserving security
and stability of the Euro-Atlantic region.
(4) The security, freedom, and prosperity of the
United States remain linked to the security of the
countries of Europe.
(5) NATO remains the most visible and signifi-
cant embodiment of United States engagement in
Europe and therefore membership in NATO remains
•HRES 468 IH
a vital national security interest of the United
States.
(6) NATO enhances the security of the United
States by providing an integrated military structure
and a framework for consultations on political and
security concerns of members which could impact
the Alliance.
(7) The security of NATO member countries is
inseparably linked to that of the whole of Europe,
and the consolidation and strengthening of demo-
cratic and free societies on the entire continent is of
direct and material importance to the NATO Alli-
ance and its partners.
(8) The sustained commitment of the member
countries of NATO to a mutual defense has been a
major contributing factor in the democratic trans-
formation of Central and Eastern Europe.
(9) Members of the Alliance can and should
play a critical role in addressing the security chal-
lenges of the post-Cold War era and in creating the
stable environment needed for Central and Eastern
Europe to successfully complete political and eco-
nomic transformation.
(10) NATO should remain the core security or-
ganization of the evolving Euro-Atlantic architecture
•HRES 468 IH
in which all countries enjoy the same freedom, co-
operation, and security.
(11) NATO’s military force structure, defense
planning, command structures, and force goals must
be sufficient for the collective self-defense of its
members, and should be capable of projecting power
when the security of a NATO member is threatened,
and provide a basis for ad hoc coalitions of willing
partners among NATO members to defend common
values and interests.
(12) NATO must act to address new post-Cold
War risks emerging from outside the treaty area in
the interests of preserving peace and security in the
Euro-Atlantic area, including—
(A) risks from rogue states and non-state
actors possessing nuclear, biological, or chem-
ical weapons and their means of delivery;
(B) transnational terrorism and disruption
of the flow of vital resources; and
(C) conflicts outside the treaty area stem-
ming from unresolved historical disputes and
the actions of undemocratic governments and
sub-state actors who reject the peaceful settle-
ment of disputes.
•HRES 468 IH
(13) All NATO members should commit to im-
proving their respective defense capabilities so that
NATO can project power decisively and sustain op-
erations over distance and time.
(14) The requirements to provide collective de-
fense, to project power, and to sustain operations
dictate that European NATO members possess mili-
tary capabilities to rapidly deploy forces over long
distances, sustain operations for extended periods of
time, and operate jointly with the United States in
high-intensity conflicts.
(15) NATO’s Defense Capabilities Initiative,
which is intended to improve the defense capabilities
of the European Allies, particularly the deployability,
mobility, sustainability, and interoperability of Alli-
ance forces, must continue to be pursued by all
members of the Alliance in order to develop balanced
capabilities.
(16) With a few exceptions, European members
of NATO have been deficient in maintaining re-
quired military capabilities and providing defense
spending at levels adequate to meet these capability
shortfalls. Failure of the European NATO members
to achieve the goals established through the Defense
•HRES 468 IH
Capabilities Initiative could weaken support for the
Alliance in the United States over the long term.
(17) Members of the Alliance must also recog-
nize that the campaign against new and emerging
threats to the security of the Alliance requires other
non-military capabilities and efforts to be effective.
Thus, the need to enhance intelligence-sharing and
cooperation, both bilaterally between Alliance mem-
bers and partners and within the Alliance collec-
tively, the facilitation of enhanced coordination
among Alliance member’s law enforcement agencies,
and improved police and judicial cooperation and in-
formation exchanges are critical to the overall effort.
(18) NATO has embarked upon an historic mis-
sion to share its benefits and patterns of consulta-
tion and cooperation with other nations in the Euro-
Atlantic area through both enlargement and active
partnership.
(19) NATO has enlarged its membership on
four different occasions since 1949.
(20) The NATO summit meeting to be held in
the fall of 2002 in Prague will provide an historic
opportunity to chart a course for NATO in the new
millennium by reaffirming the importance of NATO
to the collective security of the Euro-Atlantic region,
•HRES 468 IH
by addressing new threats, developing new capabili-
ties, and by extending invitations to additional coun-
tries of Europe to become members of the Alliance.
(21) The governments of NATO member coun-
tries have stated that enlargement of the Alliance is
a further step toward the Alliance’s basic goal of en-
hancing security and extending stability throughout
the Euro-Atlantic region.
(22) The enlargement process of NATO helps
to avert conflict, because the very prospect of mem-
bership serves as an incentive for aspiring members
to resolve disputes with their neighbors and to push
ahead with reform and democratization.
(23) The Partnership for Peace, created in
1994 under United States leadership, has fostered
cooperation between NATO and the countries of
Central and Eastern Europe, and offers a path to
future membership in the Alliance.
(24) At the Washington Summit of the NATO
Alliance in April 1999, the NATO heads of state
and government issued a communique declaring
‘‘[we] pledge that NATO will continue to welcome
new members in a position to further the principles
of the [North Atlantic] Treaty and contribute to
peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic area’’.
•HRES 468 IH
(25) In 1999 NATO launched a Membership
Action Plan designed to help interested Partnership
for Peace countries prepare for membership by offer-
ing advice and assistance on programs and member-
ship-related issues.
(26) The Membership Action Plan establishes
certain political, economic, social, and military-re-
lated goals that aspiring candidate nations are ex-
pected to meet, including the peaceful resolution of
territorial disputes, respect for democratic proce-
dures and the rule of law, human rights, democratic
control of the military and other military reforms,
and a commitment to stability and well-being
through economic liberty and social justice.
(27) In May 2000 in Vilnius, Lithuania, nine
nations of Europe issued a statement (later joined
by a tenth) declaring that their countries will co-
operate in jointly seeking NATO membership in the
next round of NATO enlargement and since then
have taken concrete steps to demonstrate this com-
mitment, including their participation in Partnership
for Peace activities and their commitment to the
concept of the Membership Action Plan.
(28) On June 15, 2001, in a speech in Warsaw,
Poland, President George W. Bush stated ‘‘[all] of
•HRES 468 IH
Europe’s new democracies, from the Baltic to the
Black Sea and all that lie between, should have the
same chance for security and freedom—and the
same chance to join the institutions of Europe’’.
(29) The enlargement of the NATO Alliance to
include as full and equal members additional democ-
racies in Europe will serve to reinforce stability and
security in Europe by fostering their integration into
the structures which have created and sustained
peace in Europe since 1945.
(30) As new members of NATO assume the re-
sponsibilities of Alliance membership, the costs of
maintaining stability in Europe will be shared more
widely. The concurrent assumption of greater re-
sponsibility and development of greater capabilities
by new members of NATO will further reinforce
burdensharing.
(31) The membership of the Czech Republic,
Hungary, and Poland has strengthened NATO’s
ability to perform the full range of NATO missions
by providing bases, airfields, and transit rights for
NATO forces during Operation Allied Force in the
Balkans, by their contributions of military forces to
NATO missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and by their
support for Operation Enduring Freedom.
•HRES 468 IH
(32) The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Po-
land, due to their similar recent history, have bol-
stered NATO’s capability to integrate former com-
munist nations into a community of democracies and
have served as mentors to other countries that as-
pire to join NATO.
(33) In supporting NATO enlargement all can-
didate countries must be fully aware of the costs and
responsibilities of NATO membership, including the
obligation set forth in Article X of the North Atlan-
tic Treaty that new members be able to contribute
to the security of the North Atlantic area, and fur-
ther to ensure that all countries admitted to NATO
are capable of assuming those costs and responsibil-
ities.
(34) For those candidate countries that receive
an invitation to join NATO at the Prague Summit,
the process of joining NATO does not end with the
invitation but rather with meeting the full respon-
sibilities of a NATO member, including the comple-
tion of issues identified by the Membership Action
Plan, which will continue beyond Prague.
(35) In considering the enlargement of NATO
at Prague and in issuing invitations to the candidate
countries who have made significant progress toward
•HRES 468 IH
achieving their objectives in the Membership Action
Plan established by NATO, there is a recognition
that each country invited to join NATO should ac-
cede on a common date but before the date on which
the next announced NATO summit is to take place.
(36) The countries that will be invited to begin
accession negotiations with NATO at the NATO
summit in Prague should not be the last such coun-
tries invited to join NATO and there should be a
continuing process and progress toward the admis-
sion of additional democracies in Europe beyond
2002 depending on the degree to which those coun-
tries meet the criteria set forth in NATO’s Member-
ship Action Plan.
(37) The process of NATO enlargement entails
the consensus agreement of the governments of all
19 NATO member countries and ratification in ac-
cordance with their constitutional procedures.
SEC. 3. COOPERATION BETWEEN NATO AND THE RUSSIAN
FEDERATION.
The House of Representatives makes the following
findings:
(1) The admission into the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) of new members from
countries in Eastern and Central Europe, such as
•HRES 468 IH
the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, will not
threaten any other country.
(2) Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has
attached particular importance to the development
of constructive and cooperative relations with the
Russian Federation in order to overcome remaining
vestiges of confrontation and competition in order to
strengthen mutual trust and cooperation between
NATO and the Russian Federation.
(3) In 1994, building on previous efforts at co-
operation, Russia joined the Partnership for Peace
Program, further enhancing the emerging NATO-
Russian Federation dialogue.
(4) On May 27, 1997, in an expression of
strong commitment to work together to build a last-
ing and inclusive peace in the Euro-Atlantic area,
the heads of state and government of NATO and the
Russian Federation signed the ground-breaking
‘‘Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation
and Security Between NATO and the Russian Fed-
eration’’.
(5) On March 18, 1998, the Russian Federa-
tion formally established its mission to NATO and
appointed a senior military representative to facili-
•HRES 468 IH
tate military and defense-related cooperation be-
tween NATO and the Russian Federation.
(6) Since 1998, NATO and the Russian Fed-
eration have worked cooperatively with each other in
the Balkans and elsewhere setting the stage for the
ability of an enlarged NATO to continue the cooper-
ative spirit embodied in the Founding Act.
(7) On May 28, 2002, in an historic step to-
ward the Alliance’s long-standing goal of building a
secure, cooperative, and democratic Euro-Atlantic
area, NATO took the decisive and substantial step
of deepening the NATO-Russian Federation rela-
tionship by establishing the new NATO-Russia
Council.
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD NATO.
The House of Representatives declares the following
to be the policy of the United States:
(1) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) should remain the primary institution
through which European and North American allies
address security issues of transatlantic concern.
(2) The member states of NATO should reaf-
firm, at the Prague Summit in the fall of 2002, the
continued importance of NATO, renew their commit-
ment to strengthen the transatlantic partnership, re-
•HRES 468 IH
inforce unity within NATO, maintain a vigorous ca-
pability to carry out collective defense, and har-
monize security policies and strategies for trans-
atlantic affairs.
(3) At the Prague Summit, the Alliance, while
maintaining collective defense as its core function,
should as a fundamental Alliance task, continue to
strengthen national and collective capacities to re-
spond to new threats wherever such threats occur,
including from abroad.
(4) The Alliance, in addition to the strategic
concept adopted by the Allies at the summit meeting
held in Washington in 1999, must recognize the
need to develop new capabilities, and agree to con-
sider acting upon the threats posed by the prolifera-
tion of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism
by intensifying consultations among political and
military leaders, and by developing comprehensive
capabilities to counter these threats to the inter-
national community.
(5) The Alliance should make clear commit-
ments to remedy shortfalls in areas such as logistics,
strategic airlift, command and control, modern
strike capabilities, adequate shared intelligence, and
the other requirements identified by NATO’s De-
•HRES 468 IH
fense Capabilities Initiative necessary to provide the
ability to carry out the full range of NATO’s mis-
sions.
(6) The Alliance must ensure a more equitable
sharing of contributions to the NATO common
budgets and to overall national defense expenditures
and capability-building.
(7) The President, the Secretary of State, and
the Secretary of Defense should fully use their of-
fices to encourage the NATO allies to commit the
resources necessary to upgrade their capabilities to
rapidly deploy forces over long distances, sustain op-
erations for extended periods of time, and operate
jointly with the United States in high intensity con-
flicts, thus making such NATO allies more effective
partners.
(8) The member states of NATO should com-
mit to enhanced intelligence-sharing, law enforce-
ment, police, and judicial cooperation, and expanded
information exchanges within and among Alliance
members in order to meet the challenges of new and
emerging threats.
SEC. 5. POLICY WITH RESPECT TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERA-
TION.
It is the sense of the House of Representatives that—
•HRES 468 IH
(1) while maintaining its essential and inherent
right to make its own decisions, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) should seek to
strengthen its relations with the Russian Federation
as an essential partner in building long-term peace
in Europe, and to that end, the new NATO-Russia
Council, in which member states and the Russian
Federation will work as equal partners on mutually-
agreed matters, should be welcomed and supported;
(2) while retaining its primary commitment to
collective defense, NATO enlargement should be car-
ried out in such a manner as to underscore to the
Russian Federation that NATO enlargement will en-
hance the security of all countries in Europe, includ-
ing the Russian Federation; and
(3) in seeking to demonstrate NATO’s defen-
sive and security-enhancing intentions to the Rus-
sian Federation, it is essential that neither funda-
mental United States security interests in Europe
nor the effectiveness and flexibility of NATO as a
defensive alliance be jeopardized.
SEC. 6. POLICY WITH RESPECT TO NATO ENLARGEMENT
AND DESIGNATION OF COUNTRIES ELIGIBLE
FOR NATO.
It is the sense of the House of Representatives that—
•HRES 468 IH
(1) at the Summit to be held in Prague in the
fall of 2002, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) should extend invitations for accession ne-
gotiations to any appropriate candidate country that
meets the objectives and targets for NATO member-
ship as outlined in the Membership Action Plan
process established by NATO in 1999, including—
(A) a commitment to the basic principles
and values set out in the Washington Treaty;
(B) the capability to contribute to collec-
tive defense and the Alliance’s full range of mis-
sions; and
(C) a firm commitment to contribute to
stability and security, especially in regions of
crisis and conflict, and to be willing and able to
assume the responsibilities of NATO member-
ship;
(2) the candidate countries of Albania, Bul-
garia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania,
Slovakia, and Slovenia should be commended on the
significant progress such countries have made thus
far in political and economic liberty and military re-
form necessary for meeting the objectives for pro-
•HRES 468 IH
spective members of NATO as set out in their own
Membership Action Plans;
(3) each candidate country, despite recognized
Membership Action Plan deficiencies requiring fur-
ther refinement, could in its own way contribute to
stability, freedom, and peace in Europe as a whole,
as many of such countries have done thus far in the
Balkans and in Afghanistan, and would make a
positive contribution toward furthering the goals of
NATO should it become a NATO member country;
(4) having made significant progress in reform-
ing their societies and their military forces, and hav-
ing developed reasonable, affordable, and sustainable
plans to be able to work within the Alliance struc-
ture and to contribute positively to the collective de-
fense of the Alliance and other NATO missions, the
most qualified candidate countries, as recommended
by the Committee on International Relations of the
House of Representatives, should be invited to begin
the accession process to join the Alliance at the
Prague summit;
(5) with respect to candidate countries invited
to join NATO, such countries should accede on a
common date before the next announced NATO
summit is to take place;
•HRES 468 IH
(6) after the Prague summit those candidate
countries invited to join the Alliance should continue
to participate in the Membership Action Plan until
accession, and the accession process should take into
account work conducted under the Membership Ac-
tion Plan; and
(7) the process of NATO enlargement should
continue beyond the inclusion of such candidate
countries invited to join NATO at Prague, to include
those candidate countries not so invited at Prague
as well as other democratic European countries
which may express interest in joining the Alliance,
and which agree to utilize the Membership Action
Plan to facilitate such NATO enlargement.
Æ