May 05, 2017

With Demands for More NATO Spending, Romania Steps Up

Featuring Jim Townsend, and Jacqueline Ramos

Source: Foreign Policy

Journalist Paul McLeary

After months of harsh rhetoric and threatening tweets, some NATO allies are preparing to spend big on defense.

The Romanian government — already uneasy over Russian activities in the Black Sea — announced it will spend tens of millions of dollars on advanced weaponry to join just five other NATO countries that have reached an elusive spending goal that Trump has used as a cudgel to criticize the alliance.

“NATO is already as a whole stepping it up because they’ve been hearing Trump’s rhetoric, so while there is no new grand strategy, there’s a feeling that allies are looking for ways to do more, and quickly,” said a former defense official who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

Read the full article at Foreign Policy.

Authors

  • Jim Townsend

    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program

    James Joye Townsend Jr. is an adjunct senior fellow in the CNAS Transatlantic Security Program. After eight years as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for European ...

  • Jacqueline Ramos

    Adjunct Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program

    Jacqueline Ramos is an Adjunct Fellow at the CNAS Transatlantic Security Program. Previously, Ms. Ramos served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Inte...