NATO allies sign cyber defense pact

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Seven NATO allies signed a deal Wednesday to fund a research center to boost the alliance's defenses against cyber attacks, seen as a growing threat to military and civilian computer networks.

The center is based in the Baltic nation of Estonia, which was hit last year by an unprecedented wave of cyber attacks that crippled government and corporate computer networks.

The attacks followed a dispute over the relocation of a Soviet war memorial in the Estonian capital, leading many to suspect the Kremlin was behind the virtual strikes. Moscow denied involvement.

Defense chiefs from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain and Slovakia all signed the agreement to provide staff and funding for the center in Tallinn.

"It is a cooperative effort to bring all the best minds together in cyber defense," said U.S. Gen. James Mattis, NATO's top commander in charge of military modernization. "We cannot say that we are not going to defend the Web that everybody needs."

The United States will join the project as an observer, and other NATO nations may join later. The agreement was signed during a regular meeting of chiefs of defense staff from the 26 NATO allies.

The defense center will be operational in August, although the formal opening is planned for 2009. A staff of 30 specialists will conduct research and training on cyber warfare.

"Cyber space essentially has no borders," Estonian Defense Minister Jaak Aaviksoo said.

"We know how difficult it is to defend the sovereignty of our land and sea borders, and air space," he said at a news conference at the new center. "It is even more complicated in the borderless cyber space where there is no smoking gun, no fingerprints, no footprints."

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