Sec. 1257. Sense of Congress on July 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland
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Congress finds the following: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)has been the cornerstone of transatlantic security cooperation and an enduring instrument for promoting stability in Europe and around the world for over 65 years. NATO currently faces a range of evolving security challenges, including Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, and instability and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. In the face of these varied challenges, NATO must deter threats and, if necessary, defend NATO member states against adversaries. Since NATO’s 2014 summit in Wales, NATO member states have made progress in implementing a Readiness Action Plan to enhance allied readiness and collective defense in response to Russian aggression. However, much work remains to be done. NATO’s solidarity is strengthened by the bolstering of NATO’s conventional and nuclear deterrence, increased defense spending by NATO member states, and continued enlargement of the Alliance. It is the sense of Congress that— at the July 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland and beyond, the United States should— welcome Montenegro’s accession to NATO; continue to work with aspirant countries to prepare them for entry into NATO; continue supporting a Membership Action Plan
(MAP)for Georgia; encourage the leaders of Macedonia and Greece to find a mutually agreeable solution to the name dispute between the two countries; seek a Dayton II agreement to resolve the constitutional issues of Bosnia and Herzegovina; work with the Republic of Kosovo to prepare the country for entrance into the Partnership for Peace
(PfP)program; take a leading role in working with NATO member states to identify, through consensus, the current and future security threats facing the Alliance; and take a leading role to work with other NATO member states to ensure the alliance maintains the required capabilities, including the gains in interoperability from combat in Afghanistan, necessary to meet the security threats to the Alliance; in Warsaw, NATO member states should build upon the progress made since the 2014 Wales Summit, by committing additional resources to NATO’s Readiness Action Plan and related measures to enhance allied readiness and deterrence; NATO member states should review defense spending to ensure sufficient funding is obligated to meet NATO responsibilities, including to allocate at least 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP)to defense spending, and to devote at least 20 percent of defense spending to defense modernization and new equipment; the United States should commit to maintaining a robust military presence in Europe as a means of promoting allied interoperability, providing visible assurance to NATO allies, and deterring Russian aggression in the region; and the United States reaffirms and remains committed to the policies enumerated by NATO member states in the Deterrence and Defense Posture Review, dated May 20, 2012, and the Wales Summit Declaration of September 2014, including the following statement: Deterrence, based on an appropriate mix of nuclear, conventional, and missile defence capabilities, remains a core element of our overall strategy. .