NATO allies have agreed to consider a request from Germany, Turkey and Greece to help slow refugee flows into Europe and any mission will likely target criminal people smuggling networks, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said on Thursday, Feb 11, according to Reuters.

"There is now a criminal syndicate that is exploiting these poor people and this is an organized smuggling operation," Carter told a news conference during a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

"Targeting that is the way that the greatest effect can be had in the humanitarian dimension," he said.