The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the amendment on May 22 as part of its Defense Authorization Act, an annual review of US military funding levels.

In the amendment, lawmakers called on the US Department of Defense to draft a report detailing the costs of keeping alliance headquarters in their current location, compared to the long-term costs of relocating.

"The question arises, would a more centralized location of NATO headquarters enhance NATO's effectiveness?" said Representative Porter Goss, author of the amendment, in his comments from the floor of the House.

The Florida Republican said the review should answer the question "are we getting the best bang for the buck from Brussels."

Brussels has hosted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since 1967, but now that the alliance has expanded eastward, the time is right to reconsider its site in the Belgian capital, Goss said.

"NATO is a vital, integral component of our global security system. It must continue to function with strength and effectiveness in this century,".

"This is not about NATO, it is about the best location for NATO under the circumstance of the time," he said.

Goss also cited another important motivation for relocating: a desire by US officials to circumvent Belgium's controversial "universal jurisdiction" statute.

The 1993 law, amended in 1999, gives Belgian courts the authority to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, whether or not the victims or the accused are Belgian. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is among those charged under the law.

Goss said in his floor statement last month that the law "has an unnecessarily chilling impact on military hospitality."

"This is a serious problem," said Goss, noting that military officers from alliance countries, including the United States, could face war crimes prosecution under the law.

Senate and House negotiators are to meet in Congress next week to iron out differences between their defense spending bills. If the Goss amendment remains in the final bill becomes law, Defense Department officials be given six months to produce the report on relocating NATO headquarters.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday scolded Belgium over the lawsuits, which he called "absurd."

Rumsfeld said at a gathering of defense ministers in Brussels that the United States would oppose further spending on a new NATO headquarters in the Belgian capital as long as senior US officials cannot visit the country without fear of prosecution.

"We will have to seriously consider whether we can allow senior uniformed and civilian officials to come to ... Belgium," he said.

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