When the top national leaders of the world’s most powerful security alliance meet June 24-25, they will be asked to examine the very definition of security. New threats and challenges, such as climate change, have upended old ideas that troops and weapons are enough.
In particular, the 32 member states of NATO will decide not only whether to commit to spending 3.5% of their national income on military forces but also whether to tack on 1.5% for a broad notion of security that largely relies on civilian society.
The proposed total percentage for a NATO-wide commitment – 5% of gross domestic product for security – would be up from the current obligation of 2% for traditional defense. In recent months, the Trump administration has demanded such an increase from its allies in Europe and Canada to equalize spending with the United States.
The alliance’s civilian leader, a former Dutch prime minister, is on board with defining new concepts of security. “The home front and the front line are now one and the same,” said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in a speech this month.
NATO has moved toward a whole-of-society resilience since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the first full-scale land war in Europe since World War II. In resisting advances by the larger Russian military, Ukraine has shown the importance of nontraditional, civilian-led defenses.
It has beefed up infrastructure, such as trains, to move military forces. It has improved integrity in government by cracking down on corruption in the military to ensure efficient use of weapons and to keep troop morale high. It has encouraged freedom and creativity for engineers to design innovative drones crucial to winning on the battlefield. And it has used truth-telling and transparency to fight off Russian meddling and misinformation in cyberspace.
Such values, which are key to new meanings of security, are difficult to buy. Yet they are essential for NATO to defend its democracies. “War is no longer fought at a distance,” said Mr. Rutte. “Our societies and militaries are in this together.”
