Ankara Summit Content Series

These articles are part of a series featuring Atlantic Council experts’ analysis and recommendations on the key challenges facing allies at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, and beyond.

TRACKING NATO SPENDING


Trackers and Data Visualizations

Jun 20, 2025

NATO defense spending tracker

By
Kristen Taylor, Julia Salabert

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

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

FEATURED READING

FEATURED EVENTS

TUNE IN

ARCHIVES: THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL ON THE ROAD TO THE NATO SUMMIT

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.

Within the Atlantic Council’s longstanding commitment to strengthening the transatlantic relationship, the Atlantic Council Turkey Program conducts research, provides thought leadership, and offers a platform for strategic dialogue between the US, Turkey, and NATO allies to address the region’s toughest challenges and explore opportunities, including in the fields of energy, business & trade, technology, defense, and security.

Content

In the News

Oct 31, 2016

Ullman in the Financial Times: How Nato Can Neuter Putin’s ‘Shock and Awe’

By Harlan Ullman

Read the full article here.

NATO Russia

In the News

Oct 31, 2016

Benitez Joins Panel Discussion on NATO Hosted by Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

By Jorge Benitez

Watch the full interview here.

NATO Security & Defense
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, May 12, 2016

NATOSource

Oct 31, 2016

Romania and Bulgaria to Host Greater NATO Presence in the Black Sea Region

By Ana Maria Touma, Balkan Insight

NATO member state officials meeting in Brussels agreed to boost the alliance’s military presence along its entire eastern flank from Bulgaria to the Baltics.

Central Europe NATO
Donald Trump in Prescott Valley, Arizona, Oct. 4, 2016

NATOSource

Oct 27, 2016

Trump Does Not Understand NATO and is a Threat to its Survival

By Miriam Valverde, PolitiFact

[Donald] Trump argued other NATO countries had to “fulfill their obligations” to receive the United States’ military aid. Asked to clarify what would happen to countries who hadn’t paid, he demurred.

NATO Security & Defense
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Oct. 20, 2016

NATOSource

Oct 27, 2016

NATO Head Rebuts Trump Claims on Spending

By Julian E. Barnes, Wall Street Journal

The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization rebutted claims by Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump that the alliance has increased spending in response to his critique.

NATO Security & Defense
Part of NATO's Standing Maritime Group 2 in the Black Sea, July 28, 2016

NATOSource

Oct 27, 2016

Turkey Calls for End to NATO’s Migrant Mission in Aegean

By Robin Emmott and Sabine Siebold, Reuters

Turkey is seeking an end to NATO’s counter-migration mission in the Aegean Sea and it is telling the U.S.-led alliance that the sharp drop in refugees trying to get to Greece means there is no longer a need for warships to patrol its coast.

Greece NATO

Event Recap

Oct 26, 2016

Bolstering Nordic Defense

By Lauren Speranza and Marija Vaicekauskaite

On October 26, the Transatlantic Security Initiative hosted a public discussion on “Bolstering Nordic Defense” at the Army Navy Club. The event served as the release of the Atlantic Council’s new issue brief: The Future of US-Swedish Defense Cooperation.

NATO Security & Defense

Issue Brief

Oct 26, 2016

Enhancing the US-Swedish defense relationship

By Magnus Nordenman

Security and deterrence in the Baltic Sea region.

NATO Partnerships Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Oct 26, 2016

More Proof Ukraine is Changing: Opaque Defense Sector Embraces Reform

By Oksana Bedratenko

In December 2015, the anticorruption watchdog Transparency International warned that Ukraine’s defense sector faces “a high risk of corruption.” TI named the country’s opaque procurement process as the highest-risk area for corruption. Assessing the defense spheres of NATO members and partner states, TI gave Ukraine a D on an A to F scale, primarily for […]

NATO Russia
Russia's ZAPAD military exercise, Sept. 26, 2013

NATOSource

Oct 25, 2016

The NATO-Russia Exercise Gap… Then, Now, & 2017

By Ian Brzezinski and Nicholas Varangis

Military exercises are a critical means of testing, refining and demonstrating readiness for combat operations. In February 2015, we published a chart comparing the magnitudes of military exercises conducted by NATO and Russia.

NATO Russia

Experts