Paying Up

Washington gets its way

A sense of relief prevailed at the sprawling headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels last week: the alliance had finally settled on a budget that seemed to ensure that U.S. forces in Western Europe would not be cut. At their biannual meeting, 14 of NATO's Defense Ministers* agreed to spend $7.8 billion over the six-year period beginning Jan. 1 for an assortment of improvements, ranging from bomb-proofing aircraft shelters to building better communication networks. That is roughly a 40% increase over the amount spent on infrastructure in the previous six years. The ministers also pledged to increase munition stocks. By so doing, the alliance ministers were in effect agreeing to firm U.S. requests for an increase in contributions, with the threat from Congress of possible major troop withdrawals if they did not.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Carrington hailed the budget increase as a "considerable effort." It was news that Washington badly wanted to hear. In the event of a Soviet attack on the allies, the U.S. would send six Army divisions and 1,100 tactical fighter aircraft to their aid; the question has been whether such action would do any good. U.S. military analysts fear that planes ferried to airbases in West Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands would be easily destroyed because of the lack of bombproof aircraft shelters. Western Europe's munition dumps have been inadequately stocked, and, say the analysts, the NATO forces would quickly run out of ammunition.

Fearing the worst, the Senate began to apply pressure to U.S. allies. In June, Democratic Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia introduced an amendment to a defense authorization bill, calling for the withdrawal of as many as 90,000 U.S. troops between 1987 and 1990 unless NATO members increased their defense spending and improved military facilities. The amendment was defeated, 55 to 41, but Nunn may resubmit it if necessary.

In Brussels, spokesmen for the Administration and the alliance downplayed the significance of Nunn's pressure. Said West German Defense Minister Manfred Worner: "We don't need any American Senator to tell us where deficiencies in our conventional forces may be." But the deficiencies seem to have been recognized.

*NATO has 16 members, but France does not belong to the organization's military wing. Iceland, which has no armed forces, has no Defense Minister. As usual, however, it was represented at the ministerial meeting by an ambassador.