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

New Atlanticist

Dec 22, 2008

Rethinking NATO’s Strategic Concept

By David Capezza

When members of a strained Alliance convene in Strasbourg, France and Kehl, Germany for the 60th Anniversary of NATO it will have been a decade since they last agreed upon a strategic vision for the alliance. 

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 20, 2008

NATO – Russia Diplomatic Relations Resume

By James Joyner

NATO and Russia are talking again for the first time since the August invasion of Georgia, AP reports. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Dmitry Rogozin, Moscow’s ambassador to the alliance, met over lunch Friday in the first high-level meeting after a four-month hiatus caused by the war.

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2008

NATO a House Divided Against Itself?

By James Joyner

NATO must “find a political voice or collapse,” says Times of London defense editor Michael Evans.  “It has become so multi-tasked, so desperate to get involved in everything from cyber warfare to anti-piracy and missile defence, let alone a hugely draining and complex campaign in Afghanistan, that it has lost its way.”

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 11, 2008

Fixing NATO

By James Joyner

“What About NATO?” asks an unsigned Economist editorial, with the ambitious subhead “How the alliance should move forward.” Its premise is that the Georgia crisis demonstrated NATO’s lack of will to stand up to Russian aggression and created serious doubts among the Alliance’s new members, especially “Poles, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians” and that therefore “NATO’s […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 9, 2008

Georgia and Ukraine: Circumnavigating the MAP

By Jeffrey Mankoff

Washington and London have proposed dropping the NATO MAPs for Georgia and Ukraine, favoring instead an open-ended development plan to bring both countries closer to membership. While Germany and France protest such unorthodoxy, this more flexible approach may allow NATO to prudently balance its interests with Russia and for eventual Georgian-Ukrainian expansion.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 2, 2008

Georgia in NATO — It Just Makes Sense

By David Smith

NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels today to, in the words of the April 3 NATO Bucharest Summit Statement, “make a first assessment” on Georgia’s quest for membership in the alliance.  In the aftermath of Russia’s August attack on Georgia, a Membership Action Plan (MAP) is not now politically possible.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Nov 20, 2008

Russia to NATO: Let’s Invade Somalia

By Derek Reveron

The latest seizure of a Saudi oil tanker by Somali pirates presents an opportunity to improve relations between Russia and NATO. Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has called for an international ground military operation to better combat rampant piracy in the region. “It’s up to the European Union, NATO and others to launch a […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Nov 19, 2008

Melting the Russian Glacier

By James Joyner

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking at the Atlantic Council today, declared that Russia’s justification for invading Georgia, that it was defending its friends abroad, is one that has been used by Russian autocrats for centuries to justify a doctrine of imperialism.

NATO Poland

Event Recap

Nov 19, 2008

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski Talks to Council

By Peter Cassata

His Excellency Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, spoke today at the Atlantic Council as part of the Council’s Global Leadership Series.  He praised continuing U.S.-Polish cooperation and solidarity, noting Poland’s “traditional affinity” for the U.S.

Missile Defense NATO

New Atlanticist

Nov 17, 2008

The Case for Keeping the Russians In

By David Capezza

NATO allies should construct a new relationship with Russia, so that mutual challenges and threats faced by both sides can be addressed more effectively. By keeping Russia as an auxiliary partner in the international security environment, Western powers expend tireless effort competing with the Russians on issues ranging from North Korea and Iran, to missile […]

NATO Russia

Experts