U.S. official intrigued by NATO cost overhaul idea

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department official in charge of NATO policy said on Friday he was intrigued by a new proposal to change the way the alliance's missions are funded to spread the costs among its members.

"It's not crazy," Kurt Volker, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told Reuters in an interview.

Volker, a career U.S. diplomat, has been nominated to be the new U.S. ambassador to the Brussels-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization but must first be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A group of former officers of the western security alliance last month proposed a radical overhaul of NATO, amid tensions between the United States and some allies over the reluctance of some members to send troops to Afghanistan or to allow those there to engage in combat.

But the ex-NATO brass' focus went beyond the question of differing levels of troop deployments.

The report's authors, who included former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of staff John Shalikashvili, suggested all members of the alliance could help fund operations, rather than just those who contribute their own troops or equipment.

"I like the idea. ... There is something to the idea of sharing the burden more equitably, and I think that is something we need to look at," Volker said.

NATO's current practice, called "costs lie where they fall," makes countries pay their own costs when they contribute to a mission such as Afghanistan, he said. The problem is that the same countries who send troops also foot the bill.