NATO secretary general hits back at Trump, saying organization is not ‘obsolete’

BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pushed hard Wednesday against President-elect Donald Trump’s comments that the Western military alliance is “obsolete,” saying that the defense organization is constantly evolving to meet modern security threats, including terrorism.

The pushback in a roundtable with journalists — the first public response from the NATO leader since Trump slammed the organization in weekend comments — was the latest in an extraordinary public spat between the alliance that forms the backbone of Western security guarantees and the man who assumes command of the world’s biggest military superpower on Friday.

Stoltenberg said that he looked forward to working with Trump and that he was “absolutely certain that the United States will remain committed to security guarantees.”

“There is strong bipartisan support in the United States for the U.S. commitment to NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

Trump has complained that the alliance is too focused on fighting conventional threats and not enough on terrorism. He has also said that European allies do not spend enough money on their own defense, an outlook long shared by President Obama and Stoltenberg, although Trump has gone on to say that he would not necessarily defend allies who didn't meet funding commitments. - Read More

NATO secretary general hits back at Trump, saying organization is not ‘obsolete’