Last week, NATO leaders met in Washington, D.C., for their annual summit, marking 75 years since the North Atlantic Treaty – the alliance’s founding document – was signed in 1949. We asked four experts to tell us more about the summit and to answer one key question – how effective is NATO at 75?Read more below.Anna Dowd Senior International & Defense Researcher RAND CorporationThe NATO Washington Summit last week came at a critical juncture. While progress was made on several fronts, alliance leaders missed the opportunity to produce pivotal outcomes and set a bold, long-term agenda to meet the challenges posed by the full-scale war in Europe waged by Russia and the rise of China. The Pledge of Long-Term Security Assistance for Ukraine limits the funding to only one year, without specifying the level of national contributions required to support Ukraine in defeating Russia. Additionally, the summit did not yield the political consensus needed for decisive action to effectively address compounding effects of systemic competition with, coercive tactics of, and technological dependence on China, as well as the deepening partnership between China and Russia.To meet the challenges ahead, NATO needs stronger political measures in support of the deterrence and defense strategy, commensurate with the markedly increased cost of Allied security for the years to come. Recent events underscore that the individual and collective security of NATO members cannot be isolated from developments beyond the Euro-Atlantic area. Broadening burden- and risk-sharing to the Indo-Pacific and enhanced political consultations and policy coordination among allies, including on economic deterrence, shouldn’t be peripheral issues for NATO, but a vital component of reinforcing its strategic posture.Franz-Stefan Gady Independent Military Analyst & Adjunct Senior Fellow Center for a New American SecurityOne lesson I take from last week’s NATO summit is that a large percentage of European NATO states continue to
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Last week, NATO leaders met in Washington, D.C., for their annual summit, marking 75 years since the North Atlantic Treaty – the alliance’s founding document – was signed in 1949. We asked four experts to tell us more about the summit and to answer one key question – how effective is NATO at 75?Read more below.Anna Dowd Senior International & Defense Researcher RAND CorporationThe NATO Washington Summit last week came at a critical juncture. While progress was made on several fronts, alliance leaders missed the opportunity to produce pivotal outcomes and set a bold, long-term agenda to meet the challenges
