US missile defence could divide allies: NATO chief

NATO's secretary-general has warned that a proposed US missile defence system risks splitting the alliance between those the program would protect and those it would not, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

"When it comes to missile defence, there shouldn't be an A-League and a B-league within NATO," the newspaper quoted Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as saying in an interview.

"For me it is the indivisibility of security that is the guiding principle."