(AP) NATO defense ministers on Thursday debated a radical overhaul of allied military forces to combat terrorism and face the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological attacks.

Opening the meeting, NATO Secretary General George Robertson said the alliance must commit more resources to adapting forces to the new threats since Sept. 11.

“The attack on the United States last September brought home to everybody that there is no relief in today's world from the obligations of defense or the need for military preparedness,” Lord Robertson told the ministers.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was expected to press his European counterparts to spend more on military modernization and narrow the “capabilities gap” between their often outdated forces and the U.S. military might unleashed in Afghanistan.

Several European allies have already voiced support for plans to give the alliance more flexible, rapid-reaction forces that can project power beyond NATO's borders to far-flung regions harboring terrorists that threaten allied interests.

They also want to give urgent attention to the possibility of extremists obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

“The alliance should agree . . . to an effective NATO role against the new threats presented by international terrorism,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar wrote to NATO ahead of the meeting.

President Jacques Chirac also has indicated plans to increase the firepower of the French military after years of declining defense spending. But in other European nations, notably Germany, increasing the military budget remains sensitive at a time of tight finances and impending elections.

The defense ministers may consider changes to NATO's high command structure, set up at the height of the Cold War and divided between the European headquarters based near Mons in southern Belgium and the Atlantic command in Norfolk, Va.

On Thursday, the first ministerial meeting by the new NATO-Russia council launched last week will be held at a summit outside Rome.

The NATO ministers want to work out a series of cooperation projects on counterterrorism and other issues with their Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov.

Although soldiers from many European nations are now fighting alongside American troops in Afghanistan, officials are increasingly worried that NATO risks being undermined by the widening gap between the U.S. military power and underfunded European forces.

They are working to halt that trend ahead of a NATO summit scheduled for Nov. 21-22 in the Czech capital where alliance leaders are expected to agree on a package of military reforms.

“NATO's Prague summit . . . must be a watershed in our efforts to ensure our forces are properly organized and equipped for their future missions,” Robertson said.

NATO experts have indicated a shortfall of large transport planes to deploy troops and equipment quickly to distant combat zones; countermeasures against mass destruction weapons; secure communications and precision munitions.

NATO officials are also looking at how smaller allies can better contribute to the fight against terrorism through greater military specialization or pooling of resources.

They point to the role played by Norwegian mountain troops fighting in Afghanistan and Czech units specialized in defending against chemical or germ warfare as examples of how smaller allies can develop useful niche roles.