THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995              TAG: 9510050421
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                       LENGTH: Medium:   65 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** An Associated Press story Thursday on a meeting of NATO allies erroneously referred to Williamsburg as the original home of North America's oldest representative assembly. The country's first legislative assembly was in Jamestown in 1619; the capital was moved to Williamsburg in 1699. Correction published in The Virginian-Pilot, Friday, October 4, 1995, on page A2. ***************************************************************** PERRY HOSTS NATO ALLIES IN WILLIAMSBURG MEETINGS

Defense Secretary William Perry will greet his counterparts from the United States' NATO allies today for two days of mostly private talks likely to focus on expanding the alliance.

The gathering marks the second time this year that Perry has played host to foreign defense leaders in this restored Colonial Virginia capital. The defense ministers of the Western Hemisphere met during the summer, an unprecedented conference that excluded only Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Perry chose Williamsburg, the original home of North America's oldest representative assembly, because it ``typifies what America stands for,'' said Navy Capt. Rocco Tomanelli, a Pentagon liaison who is organizing the event.

The meeting marks the first official gathering of NATO's 16 nations in the United States since the organization was founded in 1949.

Daniel Nelson, director of international studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk and a former foreign policy adviser to Congress, said the meeting will help underscore this country's commitment to its European friends at a time of increasing concern abroad about post-Cold War U.S. isolation.

``Williamsburg suggests, as almost nothing else would, the tie between Europe and the United States,'' Nelson said. ``It's a colonial tie, but it's a tie.''

NATO also is facing increasing opposition from Russia to the possible expansion of its membership to add some former Warsaw Pact nations. NATO last added a member in 1982 - Spain.

``You can't increase the security of Eastern Europe without increasing the isolation of Russia,'' said Michael Clark, scholar in residence at the Reves Center for International Studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

Rather than Russia, which faces serious internal political and economic problems, the greatest threat to Europe's security may be ethnic violence such as that occurring in Bosnia, Clark and Nelson said.

As a military alliance, NATO isn't equipped to deal with that kind of dispute and may need a complementary organization to handle such issues, Nelson said.

More than 1,200 people are expected for the Williamsburg meeting, including the defense minister and NATO ambassador of each member country and their support staffs. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Secretary William Perry chose Williamsburg because it ``typifies

what America stands for.''

by CNB