NATO Enlargement: Cost Estimates Developed to Date Are Notional.
Abstract
On July 8,1997, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) invited Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to become NATO members. If approved by the current membership, the alliance's expansion will entail costs to NATO, its current members, and the newly invited states. Several efforts have been made to estimate these costs. At the request of Congress, the executive branch prepared a study on NATO enlargement issues, including cost, which was released in February 1997. Other estimates have been developed by the Congressional Budget Office (cBO) and the RAND Corporation. In response to your request, we have evaluated the executive branch's estimate. Our specific objectives were to (1) assess the reasonableness of the study's key assumptions, (2) verily the pricing of individual cost elements and identity the basis for the pricing, (3) determIne whether the estimate's major cost categories and elements should be ascribed to NATO enlargement, (4) identily factors that were not included in the study's cost estimate that could affect enlargement costs, and (5) compare the executive branch's estimate with the CBO and RAND estimates. As agreed with your offices, we did not independently estimate the cost of enlarging NATO.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 18, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA328475
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office