Past In-Person Event: NATO at 70: vital, relevant, or obsolete?

As NATO celebrates its 70th birthday next week, the military alliance faces renewed questions about its purpose, cohesion, and future. President Trump’s antipathy toward NATO is well documented. Yet even friends of the alliance acknowledge that NATO’s capabilities and will are increasingly in question. Last week brought news that Germany, one of the wealthiest and most important NATO members, has chosen not to spend even a paltry 1.5% of GDP on defense in the years to come. Some members contribute even less. And when put to the test in combat in Afghanistan and Libya, NATO performed unevenly, at best.

Is NATO’s original purpose of keeping “the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down” still relevant, nearly thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall? What are America’s vital national interests in Europe? Does America’s current role in the alliance enhance or hold back European collective security?