Obama and Rasmussen spoke in the Oval Office in a meeting opened briefly to still photographers but closed to reporters, and the White House offered few details of the agenda of the talks.
"NATO just completed a very important mission in Libya that we believe was executed very effectively," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
The White House was criticized over its role in the Libyan operation by Republicans who said that it showed insufficient leadership in the operation, allowing allies like France and Britain to shoulder much of the combat duties.
But Obama aides refuted the criticism that they were "leading from behind" on the effort, noting the initial US barrage which took out Libyan air defenses and a support role that including vital intelligence assets.
US ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said Monday the president`s tactics "made room for allies to be allies."
"This is the new NATO at work, a NATO where American leadership is essential, where the American military is indispensible, but where America doesn`t have to do it all," Daalder said at the Atlantic Council.
"No country in the world can do what America can, especially when it comes to capabilities like (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) aerial refueling, jamming and targeting.
"If Libya was to be successful, the United States had to do what only the United States could do."
The meeting between Rasmussen and Obama came a week after NATO formally ended its mission in Libya, saying that it had fulfilled a UN mandate to protect civilians in an operation that helped topple Kadhafi.
Rasmussen was also meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and members of the Senate, his press office said in a statement Sunday.
The visit comes six months before the United States hosts a NATO summit in Chicago in May 2012. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
