NATO Undertakes Creating Complementary Anti-Missile Shield

"The Council decided the anti-missile defense system should cover the whole territory of the NATO alliance and NATO undertakes to create a complementary shield to protect countries not covered by the U.S. system,” Basescu said.

 

He added 20% of the NATO states’ territory is not protected by the U.S. shield, and nearly all of Romania is thus exposed.

 

NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO member states reached the conclusion Thursday that a missile attack threat is real. He said NATO will analyze where to place an anti-missile shield that would cover areas in the Alliance not protected by the American shield.

 

Scheffer added this issue would be analyzed at the NATO summit in 2009.

 

Asked who would pay for a NATO anti-missile shield, considering that only four states are not covered by the U.S. shield (Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and part of Turkey), Scheffer said discussions have not yet advanced into financial aspects.