NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION.

SEC. 1302. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION. (a) Findings.— Congress makes the following findings: (1) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has served as a bulwark of peace, security, and democracy for the United States and the members of the alliance since 1949. (2) The unswerving resolve of the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to mutual defense against the threat of communist aggression was central to the demise of the Warsaw Pact. (3) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most successful international security organization in history and is well suited to help marshal cooperative political, diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian efforts, buttressed by credible military capability aimed at deterring conflict, and thus contributing to international peace and security. 108 STAT. 2889 (4) The threat of instability in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, continues to pose a fundamental challenge to the interests of the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (5) North Atlantic Treaty Organization assets have been deployed in recent years for more than the territorial defense of alliance members, and the Rome Summit of October 1991 adopted a new strategic concept for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that entertained the possibility of operations beyond the alliance’s self-defense area. (6) In Oslo in July 1992, and in Brussels in December 1992, the alliance embraced the deployment of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces to peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations or the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. (7) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should attempt to cooperate with and seek a mandate from international organizations such as the United Nations when considering responses to crises outside the alliances’s self-defense area. (8) Not all members of the international community share a commonality of interests that would ensure timely action by the United Nations Security Council. (9) It is critical that the security interests of the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization not be held hostage to indecision at the United Nations or a veto by a permanent member of the Security Council. (b) Sense of Congress.— It is the sense of Congress that— (1) it should be the policy of the United States that, in accordance with article 53 of the United Nations Charter, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization retains the right of autonomy of action regarding missions in addition to collective defense should the United Nations Security Council or the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe fail to act; (2) while it is desirable to work with other international organizations and arrangements where feasible in dealing with threats to the peace, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not an auxiliary to the United Nations or any other organization; and (3) the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reserve the right to act collectively in defense of their vital interests.