Military

Results in Brief

Through exercises, symposia, training, and other activities, NATO's $26.2 million PFP program is helping partner countries begin to improve their ability to work more closely with NATO in PFP-related activities. The six countries that we reviewed are using PFP primarily to take part in hundreds of NATO-sponsored exercises, training sessions, communications efforts, and other activities. These events are limited to peacekeeping, search and rescue, and similar missions. While U.S. and NATO officials cannot quantitatively measure the extent to which such events would enhance a future member's ability to work closely with other NATO members on the full range of NATO activities, they believe that the events are improving the ability of partner forces to interoperate with NATO.

U.S. bilateral assistance efforts generally complement NATO's PFP program. They fall within areas of cooperation designated by NATO and its PFP partners and reflect an emphasis on helping PFP forces work with NATO forces.² U.S. programs include providing training in English, providing data on U.S. defense programming and budgeting practices, undertaking studies and paying for equipment to improve air traffic control systems and tactical communication, and providing support for partners' participation in U.S. and NATO exercises. While it has programmed $308.6 million in fiscal year 1995-97 funds for such assistance to 23 PFP partners, the United States has focused 46 percent ($142.7 million) of this amount on efforts involving Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.³ About 60 percent of these funds for the six countries is for the purchase of nonlethal military hardware, such as air traffic control equipment.

Other NATO members--including Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Denmark--are also assisting PFP partners, although we could not determine the overall value of such aid. While NATO seeks to improve its mechanism for coordinating members' assistance efforts, the United States and other major donors are attempting to coordinate directly with one another by exchanging detailed information among themselves. Also, NATO's military command has set up a database on PFP and bilateral events.

Each of the six countries that we reviewed has formally informed NATO of its interest in joining NATO and has identified various steps it believes are needed to address NATO's expectations for new members. Each is actively involved in PFP. All are participating in the NATO-led peacekeeping operation in Bosnia. Some are seeking to meet NATO interoperability standards, develop new arrangements with neighbors, and streamline their militaries.