Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a forceful case on Friday for European members of NATO to increase their military spending, calling Russia’s intervention in Ukraine a “clarifying moment” for the alliance.
“In recent years, one of the biggest obstacles to alliance investment has been a sense that the end of the Cold War ushered in an end of history, an end to insecurity, at least in Europe, and the end of aggression by nation-states,” Mr. Hagel said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center. “But Russia’s actions in Ukraine shatter that myth.”
In his speech, Mr. Hagel acknowledged that American defense secretaries for decades have been calling on European allies to increase their military spending. But he said that the United States’ commitment was becoming “increasingly disproportionate.”
America’s military spending is three times the combined military spending of the other 27 NATO members, Mr. Hagel said. He called on allies to send their finance ministers to a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers to discuss military spending and “help break through the fiscal impasse.”
Mr. Hagel’s remarks added to calls in recent weeks by Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of State John Kerry for NATO allies to increase their defense spending.
