World
Examining NATO: Inside the ‘commitment gap’ as US carries alliance deterrence
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
This is part one of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.
As President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on NATO allies to increase defense spending — and orders the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany over the next six to 12 months — a deeper issue is coming into focus: even as allied budgets rise, NATO still depends heavily on American military power to function.
NATO’s imbalance is not theoretical — and it is not new, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg told Fox News Digital, “I told the president… maybe you ought to talk about a tiered relationship with NATO,” Kellogg described conversations with Trump in his first term about the alliance’s future. “…we need to develop a new, for lack of a better term, a new NATO a new defensive alignment with Europe.”
Kellogg, who served as a senior national security official during Trump’s first term, said the alliance has expanded politically but not militarily — creating what he sees as a growing gap between commitments and real capability.
NATO CHIEF SIGNALS ALLIES MAY ACT ON HORMUZ, WARNS OF ‘UNHEALTHY CODEPENDENCE’ ON US
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose during the NATO Heads of State and Government summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool/Reuters)
“You started with 12, and you went to 32, and in the process, I think you diluted the impact,” he argued, calling today’s NATO “a very bloated architecture.”
“They haven’t put the money into defense. Their defense industry and defense forces have atrophied. When you look at the Brits right now, they could barely deploy forces: they have two aircraft carriers, both under maintenance. Their brigades are like one out of six that work. And you just look at the capability, it’s just not there. So I think we need to realize that and say, well, we need something different,” Kellogg, who is the co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Foreign Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital.
But not everyone agrees the alliance is losing relevance.
“It has never been more relevant,” said John R. Deni, a research professor at the U.S. Army War College, who says NATO remains central to U.S. national security.
“The reason for that is twofold,” he said. “One, it’s our comparative advantage versus the Chinese and the Russians… they don’t have anything like this.”
“And the second reason… NATO underwrites the security and stability of our most important trade and investment relationship,” he added, referring to economic ties between North America and Europe.
NATO ALLIES CLASH AFTER RUSSIAN JETS BREACH AIRSPACE, TESTING ALLIANCE RESOLVE
NATO chiefs of defense hold a meeting in Brussels on Aug. 20, 2025, with screens displaying allied leaders joining remotely to discuss Ukraine. (Fox News)
Dependence: Design or Weakness?
By around 2010, the United States accounted for roughly 65% to 70% of NATO defense spending, according to analysis provided by Barak Seener from the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank.
“They’ve always been dependent on the U.S.,” Kellogg said of the European allies.
“The allies overall rely upon one another for deterrence and defense by design,” Deni said, explaining that alliances exist to “pool their resources” and “aggregate their individual strengths.”
Deni pointed to ground forces as a clear example of what the U.S. gains from the alliance, noting that “there are far more allied mechanized infantry forces on the ground than there are Americans.”
Still, he acknowledged that reliance has at times gone too far.
“In the past… it was fair to say that the European allies were overly reliant upon the Americans for conventional defense,” he said, pointing to the 2000s.
That, he said, was partly driven by U.S. priorities — as Washington pushed European allies to focus on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq rather than territorial defense.
A Polish Army soldier sits in a tank as a NATO flag flies behind during the NATO Noble Jump VJTF exercises on June 18, 2015, in Zagan, Poland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Seener describes NATO as “formally collective, but functionally asymmetric,” with the U.S. providing a disproportionate share of “high-end capabilities.”
That asymmetry is most visible in nuclear deterrence.
Seener said the U.S. provides the overwhelming majority of NATO’s nuclear arsenal — including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched systems and strategic bombers — meaning deterrence ultimately relies on the assumption of U.S. retaliation.
A NATO official told Fox News Digital that, “The U.S. nuclear deterrent cannot be replaced, but it is clear that Europe needs to step up. There’s no question. There needs to be a better balance when it comes to our defense and security. Both because we see the vital role the U.S. plays around the world and the resources that it demands, and also because it is only fair.”
“The good news,” the official added, “is that the Allies are doing exactly that. They are stepping up, working together — and with the U.S. — to ensure we collectively have what we need to deter and defend one billion people living across the Euro-Atlantic area.”
NATO LAUNCHES ARCTIC SECURITY PUSH AS TRUMP EYES GREENLAND TAKEOVER
Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters of the U.S. Army 12th Combat Aviation Brigade fly over a Lithuanian Vilkas infantry fighting vehicle during the Allied Spirit 25 military exercise near Hohenfels, Germany, on March 12, 2025.
The Systems NATO Cannot Replace
Beyond nuclear weapons, the dependence runs through the alliance’s operational backbone.
Seener pointed to U.S.-provided intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — as well as logistics and command systems — as essential to NATO operations.
“Without U.S. intelligence and surveillance, NATO loses situational awareness and early warning capabilities,” Seener said, adding, “So that means that Russia, for example, can attack Europe. And theoretically, if there’s no NATO and the U.S. is not involved, Europe would not be aware, or it would take it too long to be able to defend itself.”
Kellogg also says that much of Europe’s military capability falls short of top-tier systems.
“For the most part, their equipment, if you had to grade it A, B, C, D, E, F, they’re kind of like B players or C players,” he said. “It’s not the first line of work.”
He pointed to air and missile defense as a key gap, noting that while European countries rely on U.S.-made systems such as Patriot and THAAD, “they don’t have a system that’s comparable.”
Kellogg attributed that to years of underinvestment, saying European defense industries “have atrophied,” adding that the United States is also now “relearning that as well.”
TRUMP AFFIRMS US ‘WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR NATO,’ WHILE EXPRESSING DOUBTS ABOUT ALLIANCE
President Donald Trump and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda talk during a working lunch at the NATO leaders summit in Watford, Britain, on Dec. 4, 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Deni said the picture today is more mixed.
“Alliance defense spending has been up… and has spiked far more after 2022,” he said, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 as a turning point.
But he cautioned that capability gains take time, noting that many improvements are still years away from full deployment.
Deni pointed to recent European purchases of U.S. systems as evidence of growing capability, noting that countries including Poland, Romania, Norway and Denmark are acquiring the F-35 fighter jet from the U.S.
“You can’t build an F-35 overnight,” he said, adding that many of these improvements will take years to fully materialize.
A NATO official told Fox News Digital the alliance “needs to move further and faster” to meet growing threats, pointing to new capability targets agreed by defense ministers in June 2025.
Keith Kellogg speaks during the Warsaw Security Forum on Sept. 30, 2025, in Poland. (Marek Antoni Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The official said priorities include air and missile defense, long-range weapons, logistics and large land forces, noting that while details remain classified, plans call for a fivefold increase in air and missile defense, “thousands more” armored vehicles and tanks, and “millions more” artillery shells. NATO also aims to double key enabling capabilities such as logistics, transportation and medical support.
The official added that allies are increasing investments in warships, aircraft, drones, long-range missiles, as well as space and cyber capabilities, while boosting readiness and modernizing command and control.
“These targets are now included in national plans,” the official said, adding that allies must demonstrate how they will meet them through sustained defense spending and capability development.
The NATO official also noted that European allies lead multinational forces across Central and Eastern Europe, while the U.S. and Canada serve as framework nations in Poland and Latvia, alongside ongoing air policing missions and NATO’s KFOR operation in Kosovo.
A Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from southern Sweden on April 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Scanpix/Patric Soderstrom, File)
What happens if the U.S. is stretched?
Kellogg’s warning is direct: NATO’s deterrence depends on U.S. presence.
“The one you always have to worry about… is Russia,” Kellogg, who was Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia in 2025, said.
If U.S. forces are tied down elsewhere, NATO could face serious strain — particularly in areas like intelligence and logistics.
For Kellogg, the danger is delay. “We won’t know until it happens,” he said. “And then you won’t be able to respond to it.”
Deni, however, said the alliance remains a strategic asset — not a liability.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
A NATO military force stands guard outside the World Forum in The Hague ahead of the two-day NATO summit on June 22, 2025. (Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP)
The question, he suggests, is not whether NATO still works. It is whether allies can adapt fast enough to keep it working.
George Cottrell provided funds for Reform UK leader’s security, drivers, staff and accommodation, Sunday Times reports.
Published On 5 Jul 2026
Nigel Farage received financial benefits from a convicted fraudster in the year before he was elected to parliament, and potentially breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare them, a UK newspaper has reported.
The Reform UK party leader did not declare benefits that included accepting security, drivers, staff and accommodation paid for by George Cottrell, according to the Sunday Times investigation.
list of 3 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
Cottrell, 32, was jailed in the United States in 2017 for his role in a money laundering conspiracy.
The newspaper said Cottrell recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.
A spokesman for Farage said the story was “baseless and contrived”.
“Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken,” he said, as cited by the Reuters news agency.
Josh Babarinde, an MP for Britain’s Liberal Democrats party, wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the new allegations.
“Given the value and nature of the support described, there is a serious question as to whether Mr. Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs,” he said in a letter he made public on X. “This is not an isolated concern.”
At the time the support began, Farage was Reform’s honorary president and active as a national political figure.
The MPs’ code of conduct requires new members to declare any benefit worth more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the 12 months before their election if it is “in any way” related to their political activities. If there is doubt about the donor’s motives, it should be declared.
On his election in 2024, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage declared only one benefit from George Cottrell, worth about 9,200 pounds ($12,300), for travel to a conservative conference in Belgium.
The Sunday Times said Cottrell confirmed through lawyers that he had hired staff in Farage’s private office and paid them by bank transfer. The “last payment” for private security came between January and March 2024.
Cottrell pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2017 after offering to launder money for US federal agents posing as drug dealers. He spent eight months in prison and is seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump.
Farage is already under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner for accepting five million pounds ($6.7m) from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
He said he accepted the gift to fund his security.
MOUNT VERNON, Va. (AP) — The people who were about to become United States citizens sat in folding chairs on George Washington’s lawn at Mount Vernon on Saturday, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence.
The sun beat down and the well-dressed crowd was a flutter of paddle fans stamped with American flags. Their families clung to the shade of the trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck through her ponytail.
“Well, good morning, everybody,” said Anne Neal Petri, the regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
“Good morning!” an excited crowd returned.
“And Happy Birthday, United States of America!” exclaimed Petri.
There were 150 people from 50 globe-spanning countries sitting in front of the small stage as they prepared to be sworn in as U.S. citizens on the July Fourth holiday and America’s 250th birthday. Among them was U.S. Marine Sgt. Diakaria Sangare from Guinea, who attended in his pressed Dress Blue uniform with three medals pinned to his left breast.
Sangare had served two deployments, and, like all assembled, had gone through the long citizenship process: The test, interviews, green cards and biometrics. Others in the crowd, it was said, came from countries bathed in violence. Some fled persecution.
After a speech about Washington, the crowd was asked to rise for the national anthem.
They did. Their hats came off and their hands covered their hearts. The paddle fans calmed.
The singer belted the words: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” — as Sangare held his right hand in a rigid salute, his face sober.
As the song concluded, the soon-to-be citizens clapped and returned to their seats, while another speaker asked them to stand and remain standing when their country was called.
“Albania.”
A woman in the front row with long black hair rose with a broad grin, a small U.S. flag in her hand.
“Bangladesh.”
A man in a black shirt stood. The Albanian woman, looking back, beamed at him.
It went on for 50 countries, through China and El Salvador and Iraq and Mongolia, as people stood, sometimes smiling, sometimes sedate.
At “Morocco,” a man in the back thrusts his fists in the air in support. A young boy looked up at him and then did the same, a little flag in his fist.
Then the crowd, with hands raised, recited an Oath of Allegiance, not so different from the oath Washington signed in 1778.
“Congratulations,” they were told. “You just became U.S. citizens.”
There was applause and laughter, then the Pledge of Allegiance. Sangare, his hand now over his heart, closed his eyes for a moment.
Nearby stood a tulip poplar tree, planted at Washington’s direction 250 years ago, that had lived through America’s history.
The next speaker, historian Douglas Bradburn, pointed it out in his speech before the day’s special guest.
“All the stories that are part of you, now become American stories,” said Bradburn. “When people ask me what are American people like, I now can talk about you, and your stories.”
“The second side of that is that, now, all America’s stories, and our history, are your stories. The father of your country is George Washington.”
The first president, it turned out, was the next speaker.
As he was introduced, the re-enactor stood by a massive draped American flag, a sword scabbard on his hip. Then he donned the stage, doffed his cap to the audience, and began to speak.
“Today the name of ‘American’ belongs to you every bit as much as it does to me,” he said. He spoke to their arduous journeys to this point and their histories, now merged with America.
“So, my fellow Americans, to you, I say simply: ‘Welcome home’.”
Afterward, Sangare, the U.S. Marine, posed for a portrait, hands clasped in front of him, holding the American flag paddle fan, his Marine cap slightly askew.
“I just became a United States citizen,” he said, his emotions pushing out in an earnest smile.
____ Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Tens of thousands of far-left protesters flooded the streets and clashed with police in the Germany city of Erfurt on Saturday as they protested the conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Videos showed police beating back agitators with batons and deploying anti-riot ordnance as the demonstrators chanted against the country’s conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a massive political rally.
Police said over 30,000 people attended the demonstrations, according to the Associated Press (AP), and people could be seen carrying signs reading “Stop AfD Nazis” and “For Diversity, Against Nazis.”
‘YOU’RE DESTROYING YOUR COUNTRIES’: IS EUROPE FINALLY HEEDING TRUMP’S WARNING ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION?
Despite the tense clashes caught on video, police told news outlets the demonstrations have been “mostly peaceful,” and claimed they’ve recorded approximately 100 law violations, mostly due to graffiti.
The standoff in the city of Erfurt, Thuringia state, comes as the opposition Alternative for Germany party is soaring in national opinion polls ahead of all other parties. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP via Getty Images)
The protests coincided with AfD’s party conference and leadership elections during which the party, the second largest parliamentary group in Germany’s Bundestag parliament, re-elected Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla as the party co-leaders.
The mass demonstrations delayed AfD’s vote, prompting Chrupalla to criticize the method in which agitators expressed their dissatisfaction.
Thousands of demonstrators flooded a German city on July 4, 2026, blocking major roads and disrupting public transport, in a bid to shut down the annual congress of the conservative AfD party. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP via Getty Images)
THE OLDEST HATRED IS BACK: HOW IT’S CONSUMING EUROPE AND CROSSING THE ATLANTIC
“There are no peaceful seated blockades. There are no democratic roadblocks. Nor are there any gangs of thugs who deserve the harmless label ‘civil society.’ These troublemakers are the last resort of our political rivals,” Chrupalla said, according to the AP.
Protesters gather before a party convention of Alternative for Germany, or AfD in Erfurt, Germany, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Chrupalla also accused the protesters of acting anti-democratically. “They believe they have a monopoly on democracy. To these demonstrators I say: this democracy is just as much our democracy as it is yours.”
A spokesperson for local antifascist group widersetzen explicitly claimed that the group’s intention was to block AfD’s party convention.
PRESIDENT ALEKSANDAR VUČIĆ: EUROPE VILIFIES TRUMP, BUT WE IN SERBIA SEE A FRIEND
“The AfD pursues fascist policies: It wants mass deportations and terror on the streets. At the same time, however, it doesn’t solve a single real problem,” widersetzen spokesperson Lena Raupach told the AP. “It pursues policies that benefit the rich, not ordinary citizens. And we at widersetzen want a society in which all people have equal opportunities and equal security. We want a society based on solidarity.”
AfD, while fighting accusations of extremism from citizens and center-left and center-right politicians in the country’s ruling coalition, rejects the notion that it is extreme, arguing it is “being used as a political instrument by mainstream parties,” according to the AP.
The party has been experiencing a historic surge in popularity in recent years, grabbing over 20% of the national vote in federal elections in 2025 with an eye on capturing even more in the next election. Some federal polls have the party ranked as the most popular in the country today.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“We will win. Maybe we’ll be able to govern alone soon,” Chrupalla said Saturday. “That would send the right message to the enemies of democracy out there who wanted to prevent our party convention from taking place.”
Partygoers widely support the conservative moment fashioned by President Donald Trump and the party shares similar stances on social, cultural and domestic issues as the Trump administration, particularly on immigration. Perhaps inspired by Trump’s trademark slogan, one party conference attendee Saturday could be seen sporting a “Make Germany Great Again” hat.
A man is wearing a “Make Germany Great Again” cap at the convention center. The AfD’s national party convention will take place on July 4 and 5 at the Erfurt Convention Center. (Martin Schutt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
-
Sports3 seconds agoToronto Maple Leafs top pick Gavin McKenna reveals that he’s changing his jersey number
-
Technology5 minutes agoChina’s robot-run hotel opens to public in 2027
-
Business12 minutes agoChina-backed AI tool behind fake Brad Pitt fight making Hollywood inroads
-
Entertainment15 minutes agoDon Was produced the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Ozzy. At 73, he found his voice in Detroit — and the Dead
-
Politics27 minutes agoCommentary: Happy Birthday, America! You’ve weathered another rough year
-
Sports35 minutes agoDodgers’ Eliezer Alfonzo praying his sister and stepmother will be found in Venezuela
-
World45 minutes agoReform UK’s Farage failed to disclose funds from convicted criminal: Report
-
News1 hour agoPaul Pelosi in hit-and-run in California, car left with major damage, authorities say
