Will Inboden, executive director and William Powers, Jr. chair at the Clements Center for National Security and associate professor of public affairs at the LBJ School, argues that despite White House disdain for NATO, the organization still remains critical after 70 years.
"[A] look at history offers some perspective about the unique value of NATO. Never before in world history has a superpower such as the United States enjoyed an alliance system of partner nations voluntarily sworn to cooperate in its defense. Not the Roman Empire, nor ancient China at the height of its power, not the Spanish Empire in the 16th century or the Dutch Empire in the 17th century, nor the British or French in the 18th or 19th centuries, nor Germany or the Soviet Union at their 20th-century zeniths.
"To those who would dismiss this or who would question what military value can be added by small nations such as Denmark and Estonia, consider this: More than 1,000 soldiers from NATO nations other than the United States have been killed in action in Afghanistan. Their nations were not targeted on September 11, 2001. But after al Qaeda attacked the United States on that fateful day, our NATO allies immediately invoked Article 5 and committed their blood and treasure to stand with us in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban."