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  B-277053 GAO/NSIAD-97-164 NATO Expansion

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U.S. Programs Support NATO PFP Efforts

 The United States has focused its Warsaw Initiative and other U.S. assistance programs heavily on the six countries that we reviewed. These efforts generally address areas of interest to NATO--including air traffic control, defense planning and budgeting, and English language training.

The executive branch programmed about $308.6 million for fiscal years 1995-97 for Warsaw Initiative efforts and other related bilateral assistance programs. It has directed about 46 percent ($142.7 million) of these funds to the six countries that we reviewed. These six countries received about 71 percent of all foreign military financing (FMF) funds provided to PFP partners and about 44 percent of the IMET training funds provided to PFP partners. Figure III depicts the allocation of fiscal year 1995-97 U.S. Warsaw Initiative, IMET, and JCT funds by the six countries and the other PFP partner recipients.
Figure III: U.S. Warsaw Initiative and Other Aid Provided by Country [Blue wave line]
[Chart of aid distribution by country]
 
Table 1 presents the allocation of U.S. funds in the six countries, by program.
Table 1: U.S. Warsaw Initiative and Related Assistance to Six Countries (fiscal years 1995-97)
Dollars in thousands
PFP Partner DOD programs
and exercises		 State FMF DOD JCT State IMET Total
Czech Republic $6,461 $17,400 $1,392 $2,095 $27,348
Hungary 6,548 12,700 1,841 2,830 $23,919
Poland 9,050 29,475 1,765 2,768 $43,058
Romania 4,902 15,775 2,335 2,018 $25,030
Slovakia 3,516 9,550 1,872 1,326 $16,264
Slovenia 3,485 1,400 1,398 803 $7,086
Total $33,962a $86,300 $10,603 $11,840 $142,705
  Note: The DOD programs depicted in this table are funded through the 050 national defense budget function and account for about 31 percent of the funds programmed for these six countries. The State programs are funded through the 150 international affairs budget function and account for about 69 percent of the funds programmed for these six countries.

aThis total, which includes $26,680,000 in exercise costs, understates the actual amount because DOD was unable to provide total cost for all exercises planned for fiscal year 1997 that would involve these six countries. DOD's primary interoperability programs, which account for almost all of the remaining $7,282,000, are detailed in Appendix III.
 
Figure IV depicts the allocation of the $142.7 million programmed for the six countries that we addressed in our review by program type. As it illustrates, about 60 percent of U.S. assistance to these nations has been in the form of financing for defense articles and services.8
Figure IV: U.S. Warsaw Initiative and Other Aid Provided to the Six Countries, by Program [Blue wave line]
[Chart of aid provided by program]

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U.S. Assistance and NATO PFP Areas

 U.S. assistance to the six countries that we included in our review is addressing NATO PFP cooperation areas. For example, the largest single U.S. effort in the six countries--the $32.8 million Regional Airspace Initiative--could help address one PFP area of cooperation (air traffic control) by providing five of the six countries with air sovereignty operations centers. Funded primarily with Warsaw Initiative FMF funds, the Regional Airspace Initiative is intended to help Central and East European countries make the transition to western air traffic management practices, including those used by NATO members. A DOD study, partially funded by the Warsaw Initiative, concluded that all aspects of the region's air sovereignty operations needed improvement and that the pace of modernizing outdated systems was being constrained by cost, operational, and transitional implications. We found that other FMF-funded purchases in the region also correspond to NATO-designated objectives, including communications.9

Similarly, DOD has used the Warsaw Initiative's Defense Resources Management Studies project to support PFP's defense planning and budgeting cooperation area by programming about $2.8 million in fiscal years 1995-9710 to expose the six countries to U.S. defense budget planning and programming practices. DOD also programmed about $26.7 million during fiscal years 1995-97 to support the six countries' participation in NATO- and U.S.-sponsored exercises.

The U.S. European Command is now focusing its JCT program--which is not part of the Warsaw Initiative -- on NATO PFP areas of cooperation. The Command established the program in 1992 to introduce Central and East European defense officials to U.S. programs and practices by detailing U.S. military teams to their militaries. Command officials told us that in 1994 they began focusing the program on PFP areas of cooperation. Our analysis of DOD data indicates that during 1995-97, the six countries took part in 1,532 JCT-facilitated events. Almost 92 percent of these events were related to NATO PFP areas of cooperation -- primarily standardization, communications, exercises, logistics, and training.

The U.S. program is also helping to train officers from the six countries to speak English, one of NATO's official languages. According to NATO and DOD officials, English language training is particularly needed. While NATO has made language training for officers a PFP interoperability objective, it opted to leave foreign language training to its members. We found that the United States had allocated about 20 percent of fiscal year 1995-96 IMET funds ($1.43 million) for these six countries for English language training. DOD also provided almost $3 million in fiscal year 1996 FMF funds for English language training.

U.S. and recipient officials believe that the U.S. assistance is helping to promote closer working relationships among the recipients and NATO.

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