The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and has grown to 32 nations.

Not surprisingly, the United States of America is the largest contributor to the organization, supplying 16 percent of the overall NATO budget and having the largest expenditure on national defense, totaling $980 billion, which is 62 percent of the overall defense spending of all member nations.  

Realizing that many nations were freeloading and not contributing their fair share, in 2014, the leadership of NATO mandated that members spend at least two percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense spending. Unfortunately, in 2024, then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that nine member nations had still not met their two percent goal.

The new goal for NATO is for members to spend 3.5 percent of their annual budget on defense spending by 2035. Currently, only three nations have met that goal.

Throughout the history of NATO, the United States has played a leadership role. In recent conflicts, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Kosovo (1999), Libya (2011) and Ukraine (2014 to present), the United States has contributed military personnel, equipment, air strikes, logistical support, and strategic command.

Unfortunately, when the United States needed help in the war in Iran, NATO nations refused to get involved. Not only did these countries decline to help militarily by providing naval vessels to patrol or help secure the Strait of Hormuz, but they also refused to allow our planes to overfly or to access military bases in their nations.

These actions are an unforgivable betrayal of their “big brother,” the nation that has been providing for their military protection for almost eight........

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