Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

When It Comes to Security and Defense, Can Europe Go It Alone?

The Trump administration has shattered eight-decade-old assumptions about the U.S.

NATO military forces during static display after "Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025" at the Smardan Training Area, in Smardan, south-eastern Romania, on February 19, 2025. (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT – Over the last few weeks, hardly a day has gone by without a fresh pledge from a European nation to boost its military spending. And nearly every day, a question is raised in a European capital that would have seemed unimaginable not long ago: When it comes to its defense and security, can Europe go it alone? 

Ever since the early post-World War II years, Europe has relied on the United States as the bulwark of its security, and the U.S. and its European allies have been knitted together via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and an increasingly strong and intertwined economic and trade relationship. Now, in the course of just two months, many of the core assumptions undergirding those relationships have been called into question. The Trump administration has pivoted sharply towards Moscow and issued derogatory statements about NATO and various European nations. Leaders of those nations are no longer sure of an American commitment that had been ironclad for eight decades. It is in the wake of these sudden changes that several European nations – and NATO and the European Union as a whole – have moved to sharply boost spending on their militaries and defense systems. 

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Related Articles

The Real Impact of a Nuclear Bomb

FINE PRINT / OPINION — “This report explores the environmental effects and societal and economic consequences that would be expected to follow in the [...] More

As Taiwan Launches Military Drills, a Pressing Question for Washington

As Taiwan Launches Military Drills, a Pressing Question for Washington

TAIPEI, TAIWAN —Taiwan’s annual military exercise launching this week, will be its largest ever, mobilizing more than 22,000 reservists in response [...] More

Report for Tuesday, July 8, 2025

7:54 America/Chicago Tuesday, July 8 [...] More

U.S. Cyber Defense Starts with Defining Standards and Driving Collaboration

OPINION — President Donald J. Trump has returned to office with the renewed revelations that Chinese government-affiliated hackers continue to [...] More

Expert Q&A: What to Watch for at the Trump-Netanyahu Meeting

EXPERT Q&A — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington D.C. on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House — [...] More

Report for Monday, July 7, 2025

8:03 America/Chicago Monday, July 7 [...] More

Can President Trump Get a "Big, Beautiful" Deal in the Middle East?

Can President Trump Get a "Big, Beautiful" Deal in the Middle East?

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – When Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump meet at the White House Monday, they will bring different ideas for resolving two [...] More

To Counter China, Reform U.S. Intelligence for the Digital Age

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION -- The United States is facing a quiet and rapidly growing threat across the digital landscape, an unseen mathematical [...] More

Report for Friday, July 4, 2025

8:27 America/Chicago Friday, July 4 [...] More

{{}}