NATO

From June 24 to 25, heads of state and government gathered at the NATO Summit in The Hague, where they agreed on a new commitment to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2035. Check out our commentary, analysis, and events covering the convening, courtesy of our experts.

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

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

Britain's nuclear deterrent remains "crucial" to NATO

NATOSource

Sep 10, 2013

NATO: UK Nuclear Might ‘Crucial’

By Express

Britain must not take advantage of the winding down of operations in Afghanistan to trim spending on defence, the head of Nato has warned.

NATO Security & Defense
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, December 5, 2012

NATOSource

Sep 10, 2013

NATO Secretary General: ‘We Need a Firm International Response to the Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria’

By BNS

European countries should invest more in their defence capacities to be able to defend principles of democracy around the globe, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Vilnius.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Issue Brief

Sep 9, 2013

Is NATO Set to Go on Standby?

By Karl-Heinz Kamp

In the most recent Transatlantic Security Initiative issue brief, entitled “Is NATO Set to Go on Standby?” Research Director at the NATO Defense College Karl-Heinz Kamp asks whether NATO will maintain strategic relevance after withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2014.The author argues that when NATO withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014, it has the opportunity to focus once […]

NATO Security & Defense
NATO ships arrive at Batumi

NATOSource

Sep 9, 2013

NATO Ships Visit Batumi, Georgia

By Allied Command Operations

Friday, 6 September 2013, three NATO ships assigned to Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group TWO (SNMCMG2) arrived in Batumi for a scheduled visit to the Black Sea port.

NATO Security & Defense
NATO Summit in Chicago

NATOSource

Sep 9, 2013

The West is Accelerating its Strategic Decline

By François Heisbourg, Financial Times

[T]he west was inevitably going to lose some of its ability to set the global agenda and to conduct foreign military operations. This process has been accelerated by the west’s economic slowdown since 2007.

International Organizations Libya
LTC POL AF Paul does his F-16 walkaround inspection before flight in Exercise Brilliant Arrow

NATOSource

Sep 9, 2013

NATO Concludes Air Training Exercise, Brilliant Arrow

By Allied Command Operations

One of the largest NATO air training events of the year, Exercise Brilliant Arrow, took place at Orland Airbase, in Norway from 25 Aug to 5 Sep 2013.

France Germany
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, May 8, 2013

NATOSource

Sep 9, 2013

Failure to Launch Military Strike Against Syria will be Taken as a Sign of Western Weakness, says NATO SecGen

By James Tapsfield, Independent

The head of Nato has warned that failure to launch military reprisals against Syria will be taken as a sign of Western “weakness”, as Barack Obama struggles to get congressional support for action.

NATO Security & Defense
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

NATOSource

Sep 9, 2013

Secretary General Opens NATO Energy Security Center of Excellence in Lithuania

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

It is a great honour to open this NATO Centre of Excellence on Energy Security. When we wrote our new Strategic Concept three years ago, we emphasised the importance of energy security.

NATO Security & Defense
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

NATOSource

Sep 6, 2013

NATO Secretary General on Europe’s Defense Needs

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

Excerpts from speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Vilnius.

Europe & Eurasia European Union
Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin

NATOSource

Sep 5, 2013

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Warns of ‘Serious Consequences’ if Georgia Joins NATO

By Katerina O. Labetskaya, Russia Direct

[I]t seems that some politicians in the West regard the positive processes to ease the tensions in Russian-Georgian relations as an opportunity to continue the same policy of attracting Tbilisi into NATO

NATO Russia

Experts