Secretary of War Pete Hegseth arrived at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday morning to address the alliance. He delivered a stern message about the future of the United States’s involvement with the alliance, specifically discussing the payment of annual dues going forward. He also lambasted NATO for a shift in its priorities, going from defense and war-fighting objectives to “out-of-area operations” such as climate change and gender equity. “And as I said at my first NATO defense ministerial last February, and as the Trump administration has said again and again in the last year and a half, our allies must step up,” Hegseth said while addressing NATO. “President Trump has been very clear on this point for many years and over two administrations, and for too long, NATO has been a paper tiger and a one-way street. No more.”
“And that’s what the Hague Summit is all about, that’s what defense spending commitments are all about, transforming NATO back into a real military alliance that’s focused on hard power and real deterrence,” said Hegseth.He then called for a modernization of NATO geopolitical thinking, dubbing it NATO 3.0. Hegseth described it as a return of sorts to NATO’s original purpose, forsaking the current prioritization of non-military objectives. “A NATO 3.0, modeled on NATO 1.0 that won the Cold War, with our allies actually taking the lead in Europe’s conventional defense,” Hegseth added.He also criticized Europe for its low defense spending, rebuking the alliance for its dependence on the United States for the continent’s defense.“Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the United States. That’s not what Winston Churchill or Charles de Gaulle, or Konrad Adenauer, wanted or expected. No, Europe was supposed to be a military power, allied with a strong America. This is the essence of NATO 1.0.”Hegseth then described his perception of NATO 2.0 and how it “drifted” from the organization’s original intent and purpose.
