Panetta Urges NATO To Keep Pressure On al-Qaida

LONDON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is calling on NATO to be more innovative and flexible so it can keep pressure on al-Qaida and be able to respond to a range of security threats in the future.

He was speaking as international military crises continued to unfold in Mali and Algeria. Western nations are trying to determine what happened as Algerian forces tried to rescue hostages being held by what officials called al-Qaida linked militants in Algeria.

Panetta says NATO nations must work together to help other countries beef up their security and ensure that terrorists can't establish safe havens anywhere in the world.

He began his speech at Kings College with a threat of his own — warning terrorists that they will find no refuge in Algeria, North Africa or anywhere.