Hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth upbraided his NATO allies and announced a Pentagon review of their performance, the leaders of many European nations were assessing a check list of progress made on security priorities.
In essence, Hegseth was telling the Europeans things they already know.
The list included their hike in defense spending, investment in industry to boost the production of military equipment, best use of lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, and the need to buy or develop drones, air defense systems and long-range weapons.
At a summit ending Friday, they mulled how to put joint European Union funding to best use and cut red tape to speed purchases, weighed the state of “military mobility” to speed the deployment of troops and equipment, and upgrade ports and airports.
“Europe’s defense readiness must be decisively ramped up by 2030,” they reaffirmed. The list was not new, rather something they have developed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Intelligence agencies have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could order an attack elsewhere in Europe before the end of the decade, especially if he defeats Ukraine. Already they accuse Russia of acts of sabotage and misinformation across Europe.
About two-thirds of EU member countries also stand in NATO’s ranks, and the added unpredictability of the Trump administration has only girded them to forge ahead alone. Hegseth’s Pentagon review was just the latest surprise.
Pentagon chief blasts US allies
Hegseth does not attend many NATO meetings, and he left Thursday’s gathering of defense ministers early. But his first major speech to the allies in February 2025 and his follow-up this week were memorable.
On Thursday he berated NATO as a “paper-tiger,” said allies had been “shameful” and that “too many failed” a test put to them by President Donald Trump when he sought use of their bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran.
He even took a shot at their focus on “gender equity and climate change” and slammed their migration policies.
Hegseth then gave them six months to shape up for a Pentagon performance review that tied the presence of U.S. forces in Europe and American investment in NATO to whether he believes they are pulling their weight.
