A senior NATO official says member nations face a growing threat of attack by long-range missiles.

NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment, Marshall Billingslea, Wednesday urged officials to consider ways to address such a threat, including the creation of a missile defense system.

Billingslea did not say which nations pose a security threat to NATO members, nor did he elaborate upon the current threat level.

The comments came as Billingslea presented a 10,000 page report on the subject of threats and defense systems to NATO officials.

Billingslea says the study, commissioned in 2002, found that a missile defense shield would be technically and financially feasible.