Germany is stepping up on defense — and Washington should celebrate

Excerpt

The Pentagon’s review of U.S. force posture in Europe has many NATO allies asking questions about the future of America’s military footprint on the continent, even as CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to reportedly warn the Kremlin not to attack alliance members.

Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby said that the review was meant to ensure that NATO allies are “moving fast and irreversibly” to “take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe” in a speech to the North Atlantic Council on Aug. 27.

Germany, for its part, has taken notice – and acted.

Berlin’s role in NATO has been defined for decades more by its restraint than by its contribution, a nation constitutionally cautious about military power and chronically underspending on defense.

Rear Adm. (Ret.) Mark Montgomery and Bradley Bowman are senior directors at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bowman and Montgomery are co-authors, with Elaine K. Dezenski, of the new book “Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”