TRACKING NATO SPENDING


Trackers and Data Visualizations

Jun 20, 2025

NATO Defense Spending Tracker

By
Kristen Taylor

The Transatlantic Security Initiative’s NATO defense spending tracker delves into data and figures to analyze current defense spending trends.

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

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Programs and initiatives

The Transatlantic Security Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, shapes and influences the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.

Content

MENASource

Oct 6, 2016

Saving Libya to Defend NATO’s Southern Flank

By Karim Mezran

Roughly 20 years ago, Carlo Maria Santoro, a professor of international relations at Milan and one of Italy’s foremost experts on geopolitics, wrote a book titled, The Risk from the South. He warned of Libya’s centrality to the stability of North Africa and the countries of Southern Europe. He was, at the time, referring to […]

Libya
NATO
Secretary of State John Kerry in Brussels, Oct. 4, 2016

NATOSource

Oct 4, 2016

Kerry: US Will Always Honor its Defense Guarantee to NATO Allies

By John Kerry, Department of State

Let me underscore: The United States of America will support its friends and its allies on both sides of the channel as you work through the tough issues ahead, but we will not be shy about where our interests lie.

NATO
Russia

Issue Brief

Oct 4, 2016

A NATO strategy for security in the Black Sea region

By Steven Horrell

NATO faces a worsening security environment defined by Russia’s growing willingness to challenge the West and a Europe whole, free, and at peace. In this new geo-political context the Black Sea region is one of the central friction zones between Russia and NATO. While the Alliance has recently pledged to protect its eastern flank against […]

Maritime Security
NATO

Event Recap

Oct 3, 2016

Stability Operations: 2020 and Beyond

By Lauren Speranza and Marija Vaicekauskaite

As new waves of turmoil erupt across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe’s southern borders, getting cooperative crisis management right will be critical for the future of transatlantic and international security. To tackle this challenge, on October 3rd and 4th, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with NATO Allied Command Transformation, hosted a special two-day […]

NATO
Security & Defense

Event Recap

Sep 30, 2016

America’s Role in the World with Anders Fogh Rasmussen

By Strategy Initiative

In his book The Will To Lead, Secretary General Rasmussen reviews current geopolitical events — the Arab Spring, the Iranian nuclear deal, the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the invasion of Ukraine — and critically analyzes the strategy and decision-making of Prseident Obama and his secretaries of state. Rasmussen looks at past presidents to identify the […]

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 29, 2016

NATO ‘Best Deal’ the United States Has Ever Made

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns against placing conditions on defense of allies In a thinly veiled swipe at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former secretary general of NATO, said on September 29 that it is in the United States’ best interests to be the world’s “policeman,” and it […]

Economy & Business
Libya
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Sept. 26, 2016

NATOSource

Sep 29, 2016

Secretary of Defense: NATO is Updating its ‘Nuclear Playbook’ to Deter Russia

By DoD News and Department of Defense

From Jim Garamone, DoD News:  Defense Secretary Ash Carter kicked off a visit to DoD’s nuclear deterrence enterprise

Korea
NATO
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, June 3, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 26, 2016

Europe’s Misguided Plan for a New Joint Military Headquarters

By Jorge Benitez, National Interest

The recent campaign by Juncker, Mogherini, and the governments of France and Germany for an EU military headquarters is a regrettable step in the wrong direction.

European Union
France
British military exercice, Feb. 19, 2016

NATOSource

Sep 22, 2016

Seeking to Protect NATO, Britain Could Yet Thwart EU Defense Plans

By Robin Emmott and Andrea Shalal, Reuters

Britain will resist new European Union defense proposals if it feels they undermine NATO, British officials say, in a warning to France and Germany that London will defend its military interests even as it negotiates to leave the EU bloc.

European Union
Germany

Event Recap

Sep 22, 2016

Enhancing US-Nordic Defense Cooperation

By Lauren Speranza & Marija Vaicekauskaite

On September 22, the Atlantic Council hosted a private lunch discussion on US-Nordic defense cooperation. The session featured keynote remarks by Finland’s Chief of Defense General Jarmo Lindberg and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Jukka Juusti, and a moderated discussion led by Atlantic Council board director Dov Zakheim. As Finland continues to prepare […]

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

Experts