Washington, D.C. — U.S. Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby met with NATO officials on Tuesday and pressed allies to increase defense spending and speed up burden-sharing, promoting his “NATO 3.0” concept as a framework for a stronger, European-led conventional defense of the continent.
Colby said his proposal drew substantial support during meetings that included a working dinner with twelve European ambassadors. In a post on X, he described the conversations as “frank and productive” and urged that supportive rhetoric be turned into rapid action: “I had a very productive set of engagements with NATO colleagues yesterday, including a working dinner with twelve European ambassadors. In each, we had frank and productive discussions about NATO 3.0 and the urgent need for our allies to increase defense spending and accelerate burden-sharing to enable a European-led conventional defense of the continent. Fortunately, there is strong support for the NATO 3.0 concept. It is now essential that this rhetoric moves quickly to action.”
Colby has previously outlined NATO 3.0 as a return to a posture more like the alliance’s early Cold War era, which he contrasted with the last 35 years. On Feb. 12 he wrote that NATO 3.0 “requires much greater efforts by our allies to step up and assume primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe.” He also emphasized that the approach pairs military strengthening with diplomatic outreach, invoking the Harmel Report-era Dual Track strategy and saying it aligns with efforts to both bolster NATO and pursue negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Separately, a SIPRI report cited by CNN on April 27 said global military spending rose nearly 3 percent in 2025, driven by substantial increases in Europe and Asia-Oceania. SIPRI found European defense outlays up 14 percent to $864 billion and Asia-Oceania spending up 8.1 percent to $681 billion.
(This item was distributed via a syndicated feed and published as received; the Tribune assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness.)
