[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 468 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                       October 7, 2002.
    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:
            (1) Since 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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 democracy, individual 
        liberty, and the rule of law, has proved to be an indispensable 
        instrument for forging a trans-Atlantic community of nations working 
        together to safeguard the freedom and common heritage 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 effective 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 significant embodiment of 
        United States engagement in Europe and therefore membership in NATO 
        remains 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 
        democratic and free societies on the entire continent is of direct and 
        material importance to the NATO Alliance 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 
        transformation of Central and Eastern Europe.
            (9) Members of the Alliance can and should play a critical role in 
        addressing the security challenges of the post-Cold War era and in 
        creating the stable environment needed for Central and Eastern Europe to 
        successfully complete political and economic transformation.
            (10) NATO should remain the core security organization of the 
        evolving Euro-Atlantic architecture in which all countries enjoy the 
        same freedom, cooperation, 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 chemical weapons and their means of 
                delivery;
                    (B) transnational terrorism and disruption of the flow of 
                vital resources; and
                    (C) conflicts outside the treaty area stemming from 
                unresolved historical disputes and the actions of undemocratic 
                governments and sub-state actors who reject the peaceful 
                settlement of disputes.
            (13) All NATO members should commit to improving their respective 
        defense capabilities so that NATO can project power decisively and 
        sustain operations over distance and time.
            (14) The requirements to provide collective defense, to project 
        power, and to sustain operations dictate that European NATO members 
        possess military 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 
        Alliance 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 required 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 Capabilities Initiative could weaken support for the 
        Alliance in the United States over the long term.
            (17) Members of the Alliance must also recognize 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 members and partners and within the 
        Alliance collectively, the facilitation of enhanced coordination among 
        Alliance member's law enforcement agencies, and improved police and 
        judicial cooperation and information exchanges are critical to the 
        overall effort.
            (18) NATO has embarked upon an historic mission to share its 
        benefits and patterns of consultation 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, by addressing new 
        threats, developing new capabilities, and by extending invitations to 
        additional countries of Europe to become members of the Alliance.
            (21) The governments of NATO member countries have stated that 
        enlargement of the Alliance is a further step toward the Alliance's 
        basic goal of enhancing security and extending stability throughout the 
        Euro-Atlantic region.
            (22) The enlargement process of NATO helps to avert conflict, 
        because the very prospect of membership 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''.
            (25) In 1999 NATO launched a Membership Action Plan designed to help 
        interested Partnership for Peace countries prepare for membership by 
        offering advice and assistance on programs and membership-related 
        issues.
            (26) The Membership Action Plan establishes certain political, 
        economic, social, and military-related goals that aspiring candidate 
        nations are expected to meet, including the peaceful resolution of 
        territorial disputes, respect for democratic procedures 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 cooperate in jointly seeking NATO membership in the next 
        round of NATO enlargement and since then have taken concrete steps to 
        demonstrate this commitment, 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 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 democracies 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 responsibilities of Alliance 
        membership, the costs of maintaining stability in Europe will be shared 
        more widely. The concurrent assumption of greater responsibility 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.
            (32) The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, due to their similar 
        recent history, have bolstered NATO's capability to integrate former 
        communist nations into a community of democracies and have served as 
        mentors to other countries that aspire to join NATO.
            (33) In supporting NATO enlargement all candidate countries must be 
        fully aware of the costs and responsibilities of NATO membership, 
        including the obligation set forth in Article X of the North Atlantic 
        Treaty that new members be able to contribute to the security of the 
        North Atlantic area, and further to ensure that all countries admitted 
        to NATO are capable of assuming those costs and responsibilities.
            (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 responsibilities of 
        a NATO member, including the completion 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 achieving their objectives in the Membership Action Plan 
        established by NATO, there is a recognition that each country invited to 
        join NATO should accede 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 countries invited to join NATO and there should be a 
        continuing process and progress toward the admission of additional 
        democracies in Europe beyond 2002 depending on the degree to which those 
        countries meet the criteria set forth in NATO's Membership Action Plan.
            (37) The process of NATO enlargement entails the consensus agreement 
        of the governments of all 19 NATO member countries and ratification in 
        accordance 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 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 cooperation, 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 lasting 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 
        Federation''.
            (5) On March 18, 1998, the Russian Federation formally established 
        its mission to NATO and appointed a senior military representative to 
        facilitate military and defense-related cooperation between NATO and the 
        Russian Federation.
            (6) Since 1998, NATO and the Russian Federation have worked 
        cooperatively with each other in the Balkans and elsewhere setting the 
        stage for the ability of an enlarged NATO to continue the cooperative 
        spirit embodied in the Founding Act.
            (7) On May 28, 2002, in an historic step toward 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 relationship 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 reaffirm, at the Prague Summit 
        in the fall of 2002, the continued importance of NATO, renew their 
        commitment to strengthen the transatlantic partnership, reinforce unity 
        within NATO, maintain a vigorous capability to carry out collective 
        defense, and harmonize security policies and strategies for 
        transatlantic 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 respond 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 consider 
        acting upon the threats posed by the proliferation 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 international community.
            (5) The Alliance should make clear commitments 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 Defense Capabilities Initiative 
        necessary to provide the ability to carry out the full range of NATO's 
        missions.
            (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 offices to encourage the NATO allies to 
        commit the resources necessary to upgrade their 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, thus making such NATO allies more effective 
        partners.
            (8) The member states of NATO should commit to enhanced 
        intelligence-sharing, law enforcement, 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 FEDERATION.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (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 carried out in such a manner as to underscore 
        to the Russian Federation that NATO enlargement will enhance the 
        security of all countries in Europe, including the Russian Federation; 
        and
            (3) in seeking to demonstrate NATO's defensive and security-
        enhancing intentions to the Russian Federation, it is essential that 
        neither fundamental 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--
            (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 negotiations to any appropriate candidate country that meets 
        the objectives and targets for NATO membership 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 collective defense and 
                the Alliance's full range of missions; 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 
                membership;
            (2) the candidate countries of Albania, Bulgaria, 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 reform necessary for meeting the objectives for prospective 
        members of NATO as set out in their own Membership Action Plans;
            (3) each candidate country, despite recognized Membership Action 
        Plan deficiencies requiring further 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 reforming their societies 
        and their military forces, and having developed reasonable, affordable, 
        and sustainable plans to be able to work within the Alliance structure 
        and to contribute positively to the collective defense of the Alliance 
        and other NATO missions, the candidate countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, 
        Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia have met in a 
        satisfactory manner, the criteria established by NATO in the Membership 
        Action Plan process, would likely make a positive contribution to NATO, 
        and 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;
            (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 Action 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.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.