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

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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

New Atlanticist

Sep 16, 2011

Moscow Plans for a Post-NATO Afghanistan

By Jakub Kulhanek

The looming withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan slated for 2014 poses for Moscow a serious geopolitical predicament. In spite of their conspicuous silence on the matter, Russian officials have been growing increasingly uneasy about the potential vacuum. Yet still some in the Russian leadership see this as a welcome opportunity to expand […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2011

Article 5 Ten Years On: Division or Unity?

By Simona Kordosova

Ten years ago, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in its history. Paradoxically, a treaty provision created to guarantee American assistance in case of a Soviet attack on Europe instead brought Europe to the aide of the United States in Afghanistan. Since then, […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2011

NATO Support Steady Through Transatlantic Twists and Turns

By James Joyner

The German Marshall Fund has just released its annual Transatlantic Trends report, which measures U.S. and European public opinion on transatlantic issues and trends. The big headline is that a bare majority of Americans, 51 percent, now think the countries of Asia are more important to their national interests than the countries of the European Union, which […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2011

International Partnership and NATO’s Future in Afghanistan

By William B. Caldwell IV

Reflecting on ten years of United States involvement in Afghanistan, the greatest long-term effect the international community can have in Afghanistan is through continued partnership. Today, nearly a quarter of the world’s nations are working with the Afghan government to rebuild a war-torn society, stimulate economic activity, and develop their security forces. In spite of […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2011

Being NATO’s Secretary General on 9/11

By Lord Robertson

Being NATO Secretary General is always a job fraught with challenges and surprises. But on 11 September, 2001, Lord Robertson had one of the most extraordinary experiences of any NATO Secretary General. Here, he recounts how the day panned out. At NATO Headquarters in Brussels, it was just an ordinary Tuesday. One which was to […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 6, 2011

Cyber Attacks Against NATO, Then and Now

By Jason Healey

Now that NATO’s Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR over Libya is winding down, it is worth noting how few cyber incidents were directed in protest against the Alliance.

Cybersecurity NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2011

Global Con?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Were the United States, France, Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — the NATO-led coalition that set out to overthrow Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime — snookered by al-Qaida? A preposterous scenario with some disturbing factual elements. In the early 1990s, when James Woolsey was the director of the CIA, Gadhafi appealed […]

Europe & Eurasia Libya

Issue Brief

Sep 1, 2011

Learning from Libya: The right lessons for NATO

By Damon M. Wilson

“While NATO’s ‘Operation Unified Protector’ has revealed strains within the Alliance and foreshadows future challenges, the Libya operation is a great success.”  That is the conclusion of Atlantic Council Executive Vice President Damon Wilson in his Strategic Advisors Group issue brief, released as leaders of the Transitional National Council meet today in Paris with leading […]

Libya NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2011

How NATO is Perceived in Russia (or Lessons in Optimism)

By Robert Pszczel

Let us start with a few snapshots. Exhibit one – the Levada Center opinion poll conducted in January 2011 showed NATO being described as an adversary by 23 percent of Russians (Chechen rebels came first on that list with 43 percent, followed by USA with 28 percent).

NATO Russia
Nuclear ICBM

Issue Brief

Aug 30, 2011

Future options for NATO nuclear policy

By Jeffrey A. Larsen

The United States has maintained forward-deployed nuclear weapons in Europe for more than six decades. That may soon come to an end, argue Dr. Jeffrey A. Larsen, a retired Air Force command pilot and expert on arms control, in his Atlantic Council issue brief “Future Options for NATO Nuclear Policy.”  Unless current trends are altered, […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Experts