U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used Thursday’s NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels to sharply criticize Washington’s allies and announce a formal review, over the next six months, of the U.S. military posture in Europe. He said the outcome would depend on how quickly European states accept greater responsibility for their own security.
Hegseth told the 32 member states that NATO must move rapidly and irreversibly toward a system in which Europe leads and bears the main burden for its own defense. He said the alliance had long behaved like a “paper tiger” and needed a reset into a tougher, more capable “NATO 3.0” able to deter threats on the continent. He also said Europe was never meant to rely on the United States, recalling past leaders such as Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, and citing Dwight Eisenhower’s 1951 warning that the presence of U.S. troops in Europe should not become permanent.
His remarks echoed President Donald Trump’s longstanding criticism that NATO allies have underinvested in defense and relied on U.S. spending. Hegseth said some allies are moving toward the alliance’s latest target of spending 5% of GDP on defense, but others are not. He warned that U.S. contributions would be tied to allied burden-sharing, saying, “America cannot pay for NATO’s defense more than our allies do.”
Hegseth also attacked European governments over immigration, gender equality, climate policy and defense austerity, saying they chose “gender equality, climate change and fiscal restraint” instead of tanks, fighters and air defense. He argued that open borders and weak defense spending had eroded Europe’s confidence in itself and in its civilization. AP noted that this depiction does not match current European policy, as European allies and Canada have been increasing defense spending, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte saying they spent $90 billion more last year than the year before, a 20% increase. AP also said most European states have tightened border controls since the migration surge of more than a decade ago.
He separately criticized allies that refused to let the U.S. use their bases for the recent strike on Iran, calling that decision “shameful.” He said American aircraft needed access to European bases or ports to strike Iranian targets that also threatened European interests, and said those allies were putting U.S. service members at risk by denying access. His comments came weeks after Washington said it would no longer help NATO states with aircraft carriers, warships, aerial refueling planes or dozens of fighter jets if one of them comes under attack, even though Article 5 treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.
