Skip to main content

NATO Enlargement: Reports Are Responsive to Senate Requirements, but Analysis of Financial Burdens Is Incomplete

GAO-03-722 Published: May 05, 2003. Publicly Released: May 05, 2003.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

On November 21, 2002, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invited seven countries to join the alliance. To facilitate congressional consideration of NATO enlargement, the U.S. Senate mandated in 1998 that GAO review and assess the reports the Senate directed the President to provide on countries invited to join NATO. The President submitted the required reports to Congress on March 25, 2003. To fulfill its mandate, GAO determined if (1) the reports met the Senate's requirements and the information was accurate and current, (2) the methodology for assessing the likely impact on NATO's military effectiveness was reasonable, and (3) the methodology for analyzing the ability of the invited countries to fulfill the full range of financial burdens of NATO membership was reasonable.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Security Council To ensure that sound analyses of invited countries' financial capabilities are provided in future reports required under section 3(2)(E)(ii) of the Senate Resolution of Ratification on the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, the National Security Council should fully explain the methodology, to ensure the range of information is sufficient to support conclusions, and should consistently apply the methodology.
Closed – Not Implemented
The NSC never responded to this GAO recommendation and we don't expect any future response.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

executive relationsInternational organizationsReporting requirementsNATO enlargementNational securityDefense budgetsInternational relationsMilitary capabilitiesNATO membershipDefense reform