At the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO leaders pledged to increase defense spending to reverse the decline of national defense investment and respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia and Russian military modernization. Allies agreed to boost national defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) within a decade.

European allies and Canada have now contributed four consecutive years of growth in defense investment, bringing an additional $41 billion in cumulative defense spending to NATO’s collective security between 2016 to 2018. Defense investment rose across the board in 2018, with each ally increasing its investment and seven allies reaching the 2 percent mark, improving NATO’s ability to respond swiftly to any threat.

Since Wales, Allies have also started a more strenuous military exercise regimen, increased maritime patrols in the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Black Seas, and created an enhanced Forward Presence mission in NATO’s east.

This strong commitment to fairer burden is hard to overstate.  While movement towards 2 percent may seem slow, it is clear that NATO allies are making significant changes to their defense spending, bringing real contributions to the Alliance’s security, and committing to a fairer and more effective Alliance.

NATOat70 Mar 21, 2019

Behind the din over defense spending, NATO was hard at work in 2018

By David A. Wemer

Throughout 2018, NATO allies and their partners took steps to bolster the Alliance’s capabilities, strengthen its defense, and respond to changing security threats and technologies.

NATO

NATOat70 Apr 3, 2019

After seventy years, the United States still supports NATO

By David A. Wemer

Washington has made it clear that US support for the transatlantic alliance remains steadfast.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist Jul 6, 2018

NATO: The United States’ alliance

By Magnus Nordenman

NATO is not about the United States doing Europe favors. It is an alliance created by the United States, and which has proven remarkably effective in transforming to, in great part, advancing American national security objectives.

NATO Security & Defense

Image: A Polish soldier stands near U.S. and Poland's national flags and a NATO flag as the first company-sized contingent of about 150 U.S. paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team based in Italy arrived to participate in training exercises with the Polish army in Swidwin, northern west Poland April 23, 2014. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel