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• NATO is drawing up a new "military concept" to define its role in the fight against global terrorism and put an end to the identity crisis which has plagued it since September 11, officials said on Monday. Defense ministers from the alliance will kick start the process at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday and the package of measures will be agreed at a summit in Prague next November. "The main function of this new military concept is to define NATO’s role, and in particular the military role in relation to terrorism," a senior NATO official said. It will consider what role NATO could play in attacks on non-member countries outside its traditional area of operations and how it can contribute to international coalitions. The senior official said that U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld would propose a review of NATO’s command structure, raising the question of whether it still needs a Supreme Allied Commander based in North America (SACLANT) as well as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR). NATO Secretary General Robertson has warned that if the gap continues to widen there will be a division of labor, with the United States providing logistics, smart bombs and intelligence and its lower-tech allies providing soldiers – or simply wringing their hands on the sidelines.(Reuters 1534 030602 June 02 GMT)

• U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld leaves on Tuesday on a trip that will include stops in India and Pakistan aimed at cooling tensions between the nuclear rivals, and visits to Europe and the Gulf, U.S. defense officials said on Monday. Rumsfeld will arrive at his first stop, London, early on Wednesday for talks with British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon and leave later that day for Brussels for a round of NATO meetings, another U.S. defense official said. He was expected to hold talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in Brussels, but the U.S. defense official would not comment on whether the crisis in South Asia would top the agenda. Rumsfeld and Ivanov would attend the first meeting of the NATO-Russia council where the focus was expected to be the war on terrorism and nonproliferation. The United States is also pushing for development of an "air sovereignty operation center" for Europe and Russia to provide a full picture of civilian and military air traffic during peacetime over the region. "The concept if fully developed would be to have an ASOC that would cover effectively from Vancouver to Vladivostok," the defense official said. The NATO meetings were expected to discuss, among other things, enhanced defenses against weapons of mass destruction, air-to-air refueling capabilities and secure communications. Rumsfeld will stop at an air base in Germany to visit NATO crews of the AWACs planes that patrolled U.S. skies following the Sept. 11 attacks, the defense official said. He will also visit Estonia for a meeting of the Nordic and Baltic defense ministers.(Reuters 1926 030602 June 02 GMT)

• The leaders of Britain and Spain sent a joint letter to NATO Secretary-General Robertson on Monday, urging the alliance to upgrade its military capabilities in order to better handle its new challenges, including the U.S.-led war against terrorism. The letter, which supported reform proposals that have been made by Robertson, did not appear to put British Prime Minister Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Aznar in new positions regarding NATO. "We want to see the transformation of the alliance towards new roles, new capabilities, an enlarged membership, a new relationship with Russia, a mutually beneficial NATO-EU relationship and a refocused partnership," the two leaders of NATO countries said in their letter. "Achieving this vision will not be easy. But success will guarantee NATO’s place as the key instrument of trans-Atlantic defense and security for the next generation," Blair and Aznar said.(AP 031755 Jun 02 GMT)

• Norway will join a U.S. program to develop new fighter jets in a 10-year deal worth 1.016 billion kroner (127 million dollars), the government announced Monday. However, Norway stressed that signing up for the program does not mean it has excluded rival aircraft, like the Eurofighter, when the time comes to replace its aging F-16 fighters. A Norwegian government statement said this northern European nation of 4.5 million people wants to work closely with the United States in developing the aircraft. "The most important thing for the government are the operating standards that have to be met by the next generation fighter," the statement said. It said so far the Joint Strike Fighter appears to best suited to meeting Norway’s future needs and demands for cooperation within the Western alliance. "Participation in the development program for the next generation fighter will lay the groundwork for close cooperation with close allies throughout the aircraft’s life span," the statement said. Norway is expected to decide which fighters to buy before 2008.(AP 031502 Jun 02 GMT)

• The expected entry of the Baltic countries into NATO will not sway neighboring Finland’s policy of military non-alignment, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said on Monday. "It won’t change much really because it has been evident for at least a year now that these countries are in line to join NATO," Tuomioja told Reuters in an interview. "This has been discounted long before in everyone’s plans and conceptions." Tuomioja, who opposes NATO membership, said joining the alliance would not bring any benefits for Finland. "We don’t feel any security deficit to which an answer would be joining any military alliance. We’ve done well in even much more difficult circumstances so there is no pressure on us to change our position now," he said. Finland is due to review its militarily non-alignment position during its next defense review in 2004. According to recent opinion polls some 65 percent of Finns oppose membership.(Reuters 1821 030602 June 02 GMT)

• Countering hard-line critics, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday that Moscow hasn’t compromised its security interests in a nuclear deal with Washington and new alliance with NATO. "I regard as unfounded the claims that we have made concessions," Ivanov told reporters, according to the Interfax-Military News Agency. "We did not give up anything." "We do not need the nuclear parity of the Cold War times with the United States," Ivanov said when asked whether the Russian military’s plan to make even deeper cuts down to 1,500 warheads would put Russia at a disadvantage. Ivanov also defended the agreement Russia signed with NATO last week making Moscow a limited partner of the alliance by giving it a voice but not a veto on a range of issues including counterterrorism, nonproliferation and peacekeeping. Ivanov said Russia wasn’t striving to become a full member of the alliance, and also had no desire to take part in setting NATO’s military policy. "Russia is not going to cooperate with NATO on military issues," he said. "We intend to work together with the alliance on the most urgent problems that pose a real threat to both Russia and NATO members." "By establishing the new format of relations with the alliance, Russia effectively is proposing an alternative format of security cooperation ... as an alternative to military blocs and organizations," Ivanov said.(AP 031332 Jun 02 GMT)

• French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie visited French troops helping to protect the Afghan capital on Monday and said she believed the next Afghan government would be picked under the best possible conditions. Around 480 French soldiers are taking part in an 18-nation, 4,800-strong ISAF that will ensure security for 1,501 Afghan delegates holding a June 10-16 Loya Jirga grand tribal assembly to choose the war-torn nation’s next leader. "I must say that after some anxiety we are happy about the conditions in which the Loya Jirga is going to take place," Alliot-Marie told reporters at Kabul's military airport. The French minister said all indications were that any delays in holding the assembly would be "very short", a comment that contrasted with assurances from the United Nations and the Loya Jirga organizers that everything was on track.(Reuters 1606 030602 June 02 GMT)

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