JBANC PRESS RELEASE: Washington, DC (JBANC) Ron Asmus, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, participates in a noontime webcast today (EDT) on the topic of NATO enlargement. The forum is open to all. Participants are welcome to submit questions via e-mail to: .

While at the State Department from 1997-2000, Asmus helped develop the administration's policy on NATO enlargement and was also instrumental in formulating the U.S.-Baltic Charter of Partnership, signed in January 1998 between the United States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Asmus is currently writing a book on the NATO enlargement debate.

A complete transcript of the event will be available following the webcast.

The internet version of JBANC's fall newsletter, the JBANC Chronicle, is now available for download on the web at: http://216.164.88.144/gg/Chron... (Adobe Acrobat is required to download the 1.2-gigabyte file).

One of the current legislative issues highlighted in the Chronicle is the Freedom Consolidation Act, which was introduced October 24 in both the House (H.R. 3167) and the Senate (S. 1572).

The language of the bill endorses the vision of continued NATO enlargement, a process embraced by both the administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. That vision was most recently reinforced by President Bush in a speech in Warsaw this summer.

Main sponsors of the Freedom Consolidation Act are Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), whose floor speech from October 24 is reprinted, and Congressman Doug Bereuter (R-NE), leader of the congressional delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Bill details are available by searching on the Thomas webpage: http://thomas.loc.gov or by contacting JBANC. Additional support for the bill is now being sought.

Other articles in the current Chronicle look at the impact of terrorism, the recently concluded petition campaign and visit of Baltic-Americans to the White House, a reception for Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, featuring comments by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), co-chair of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, and materials from recent NATO meetings in Sofia and Ottawa.

JBANC represents the Estonian American National Council, Inc., the American Latvian Association, Inc. and the Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

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JOINT BALTIC AMERICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, INC.

Representing: Estonian American National Council, Inc. American Latvian Association, Inc. Lithuanian American Council, Inc.

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Tel: (301) 340-1954 Fax: (301) 309-1406 E-Mail: Net: http://jbanc.org

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