U.S. Ambassador to NATO Urges Increase in German Defense Budget

Germany must beef up defense spending to assure NATO's key role as a world police force said Nick Burns, the U.S. ambassador to the alliance. Speaking at NATO's 49th general assembly in Edinburgh, Burns said Germany, along with Luxembourg, Italy, Canada and Spain, had fallen below the accepted defense spending of two percent of the countries' gross domestic product. Germany currently budgets about 1.5 percent for its military. "There is no hope for the U.S. to meet (international) threats on our own," Burns said. "We must work with other countries and NATO is the ultimate expression of that multinational commitment."