The United States wants to see its NATO allies spend more money on defense "smartly," favors "a robust enlargement to all the democracies in Europe who are prepared to take on the responsibilities and indeed the burden of NATO membership," and hopes to see NATO develop new relations with Russia, Ukraine, and the countries of Central Asia, said Marc Grossman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Grossman, who made his comments April 18 during a joint press conference with Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Telicka, was in Prague as part of a nine-country visit to Europe to discuss terrorism, U.S. support for NATO, and the agenda of the November NATO summit in Prague. Complete text

The United States supports the OSCE's involvement in the war on terrorism and looks forward to the June 12 meeting aimed at coordinating OSCE efforts with those of other international organizations, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman said in Lisbon April 17.

Grossman, who made his comments during a joint press conference with Portugal's director-general for foreign policy Santana Carlos April 17, was in Lisbon as part of a nine-country visit to Europe to discuss terrorism, U.S. support for NATO, and the agenda of the November NATO summit in Prague. Complete text

Brookings Scholar Says NATO Remains Key Security Vehicle

The 19-member NATO Alliance remains the primary vehicle for keeping the United States engaged in European security affairs, says a Brookings Institution scholar, and further enlargement remains critical for the continent's security needs.

Through its enlargement process, NATO "is playing a critical role in unifying a continent that had been divided for almost 50 years," Philip Gordon, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said April 17 in testimony before the U.S. House International Relations Subcommittee on Europe. "NATO brought peace to the Balkans, and continues to deploy tens of thousands of troops to the Balkans, without which [that region] could easily revert to the horrible conflicts of the 1990s," he said. Complete text