US says it is open to NATO solution for missile shield

The US Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, has said the United States is open to European demands that a missile shield system it plans to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic be brought under NATO. Mr Obering said on Thursday he would not be averse to the shield being integrated into NATO's defensive capabilities.

The United States says the missile shield is meant to protect Europe and US forces there from missiles fired by what Washington calls "rogue states", such as Iran and North Korea. Senior European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, have called for the missile defence issue to be debated within the Alliance rather than on a bilateral basis.