PinnedUpdated June 25, 2025, 3:29 a.m. ETPresident Trump was meeting with NATO leaders on Wednesday at the alliance’s annual summit, where discussions about military spending in light of Russia’s assault on Ukraine were at risk of being overshadowed by the cease-fire between Israel and Iran.Mr. Trump has demanded that NATO members, meeting in The Hague, raise the share of their economic output that they spend on defense to 5 percent, up from 2 percent. Still, as the president focused on conflict in the Middle East, the main topic of recent NATO summits, the war in Ukraine, seemed to fall in the list of priorities, despite Russia’s continued assault at the edge of the alliance’s territory.The increase in military spending had been among the few agenda items that the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, hoped would be unanimously approved at the meeting. But it was unclear whether that would happen after Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that his country would spend “no more, no less,” than 2.1 percent of its G.D.P. on defense.“Spain’s not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday as he traveled to the Netherlands. And yet Mr. Trump has maintained that the United States — which spends about 3.5 percent of its G.D.P. on its military — does not need to meet the 5 percent goal he has demanded of other countries. He argues that, for one thing, the United States does not have the same need as countries such as Germany to invest in its military and infrastructure.Here’s what else to know:Iran intelligence: The president may have been hoping to use the summit as a victory lap after helping to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Iran. But the leak of a new U.S. intelligence report cast doubt on his repeated claim that American strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programs. The report’s finding, while preliminary, was that the military action had only set Iran’s nuclear program back by months.Making nice: Mr. Rutte has been eager to make Mr. Trump’s time at the summit go smoothly and avoid any diplomatic blowups. That effort that was on display in a message from Mr. Rutte that Mr. Trump posted on his social media site on Tuesday in which the NATO leader praised Mr. Trump’s “decisive action in Iran” and said he was “flying into another big success in The Hague,” citing a consensus on the 5 percent spending figure.Mutual defense: On Tuesday, Mr. Trump played coy when asked whether he was committed to Article 5, the part of NATO’s treaty that stipulates an attack on one ally would be defended as an attack on all. The president said it “depends on your definition” of Article 5.Brief stay: Mr. Trump, making the fourth international trip of his second term, was expected to spend less than 24 hours in the Netherlands. After attending a dinner with other world leaders on Tuesday, he will participate in the NATO summit’s plenary session on Wednesday and hold bilateral meetings and a news conference before returning to Washington.June 24, 2025, 6:34 p.m. ETHonor guards rolling up a red carpet in front of the presidential limo after President Trump arrived at Huis ten Bosch, a royal palace in The Hague, on Tuesday.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesAs President Trump landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the annual meeting of NATO allies, he was desperate to hold together the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Iran, cursing and cajoling to make sure that history would remember him for bombing Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend and brokering a peace deal days later.But just hours after he landed, the leak of a new U.S. intelligence report cast doubt on his repeated claim that the American strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programs. Mr. Trump started using the word “obliterated” before he received his first battle damage report, and since then, he has closely monitored which members of his administration have used the same language.The report’s finding, while preliminary, was particularly damaging because it emerged from inside the Pentagon, which had carried out the strikes, and it concluded that the military action had only set Iran’s nuclear program back by a number of months.Mr. Trump had been eager to celebrate his success at NATO and revel in the fact that he had conducted an attack that none of his predecessors had dared to launch. His view was backed up by Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the alliance, who wrote Mr. Trump a private message thanking him for his “decisive action” in Iran.“That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do,” Mr. Rutte wrote. “It makes us all safer.” The note, addressed to “Donald,” appeared to be a private correspondence, but Mr. Trump posted a photo of it on his social media account.Mr. Rutte went on to tell Mr. Trump that he was “flying into another big success in The Hague this evening,” citing the alliance’s agreement that each nation would spend 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense or defense-related spending, though they have a decade to reach the mark.That is a major victory for Mr. Trump, who has pressed for the past decade for Europe to pay for more of its own defense. While the commitments increased under the Biden administration, Mr. Rutte has leveraged the concerns about Russia’s ambitions beyond Ukraine to convince countries to spend at levels that even six months ago they could not have imagined. And Mr. Trump’s unsubtle threats in his first term that he might abandon the alliance proved successful, even if they came at the price of diplomatic breaches with some of America’s closest allies.Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, in the center of the group in a blue tie and glasses, praised Mr. Trump in a private message for the American strikes in Iran. Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesBy any measure, Mr. Trump’s actions in the past 72 hours underscored to those countries, however, how advanced the U.S. military was compared to the other forces that make up NATO. No other nation represented in the alliance has a military capable of flying halfway around the world to strike a distant, hardened target under a mountain in north-central Iran.But the subtext of the meeting that opened in The Hague on Tuesday evening was clear: The other 31 NATO nations must adjust to an era in which they can no longer count on Washington as the linchpin of the 76-year-old alliance. The biggest source of tension at the session is Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to commit more military aid to Ukraine, and his frequent communications with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia make the allies nervous.Mr. Trump woke up on Tuesday morning in a surly mood, as the cease-fire between Israel and Iran he had just eagerly announced hours before appeared to be collapsing. As he was leaving the White House, he berated Israel and Iran, saying they “don’t know what the fuck they’re doing” as the two sides launched missiles as the truce was set to begin.Mr. Trump then called Mr. Netanyahu and later announced the cease-fire was back in place. He was in a much better mood then, posting a series of laudatory messages from others, including calls for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize.The upbeat demeanor crumbled once the intelligence reports started to leak out, with Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, blasting the findings as “flat-out wrong” and a “clear attempt to demean President Trump.”Later that night, Mr. Trump appeared to dig in, posting on social media a series of quotes from administration officials, as well as the front page of one newspaper, using the word “obliterated” to describe the damage.“Our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CNN on Sunday, in one passage Mr. Trump posted. “Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly.”At The Hague, the president will face an alliance that he has long disdained in a setting — an international summit — that he has shown little interest in. For that reason, Mr. Rutte bent over backward to try and appease Mr. Trump. Mr. Rutte shortened the programming, corralled the alliance to meet Mr. Trump’s spending demand and worked to keep the policy communiqué as short as five paragraphs.In total, Mr. Trump is expected to spend less than 24 hours on the ground in the Netherlands. He attended a dinner with other world leaders on Tuesday night and spent the night at Huis ten Bosch, one of the Dutch royal palaces. He will have breakfast with the country’s king and queen on Wednesday morning and then participate in the plenary session and hold bilateral meetings and a news conference before returning to Washington.Even before he arrived, though, Mr. Trump further unnerved European allies, playing coy on whether he was committed to Article 5, the part of NATO’s treaty that stipulates an attack on one ally would be defended as an attack on all. During his first term, Mr. Trump edited out mentions of Article 5 from a major speech at NATO. On Tuesday, the president said his commitment “depends on your definition” of Article 5.“I’m committed to saving lives,” he said. “I’m committed to life and safety, and I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don’t want to do it on the back of an airplane.”June 24, 2025, 5:59 p.m. ETZolan Kanno-Youngs and Adam GoldmanZolan Kanno-Youngs covers the White House, and Adam Goldman covers national security. They reported from Washington.President Trump has cut funding and specialists from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which helps protect the nation’s power grids, elections and water utilities. Credit...Michael Stravato for The New York TimesSoon after the United States bombed Iran’s critical nuclear facilities, the Trump administration warned that Iran could seek revenge by inspiring violent extremists or launching cyberattacks against U.S. networks.But many of the federal programs or resources that would defend the nation against such attacks have been scaled back significantly in recent months, after Mr. Trump slashed the federal bureaucracy and reoriented much of the national security apparatus to help with his immigration crackdown.Mr. Trump has cut funding and specialists from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, which helps protect the nation’s power grids, elections and water utilities. In a sign of the heightened risk of a cyberattack, the F.B.I. directed officials in recent days to assist the cybersecurity agency in protecting critical infrastructure, according to an email obtained by The New York Times.But that directive came after F.B.I. officials tasked with working on cybersecurity or counterintelligence were asked to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement on routine deportations.The administration has also purged decades of experience at the highest ranks of the F.B.I., heightening concerns that the bureau might be unprepared to deal with myriad crises that the agency faces on a daily basis, let alone the possibility of Iran taking revenge on American soil.The F.B.I., led by Kash Patel, has directed officials in recent days to assist the cybersecurity agency in protecting critical infrastructure.Credit...Anna Rose Layden for The New York TimesAnd the administration has proposed breaking up a little-known office tasked with detecting potential chemical, biological and nuclear attacks against the United States.“We are less safe now than we were on Jan. 20 because of the indiscriminate cuts by DOGE, that shift in priority to focus exclusively on immigration and not on counterterrorism or other national security threats, and the loss of institutional knowledge about those national security threats,” said Mary Ellen Callahan, the former assistant secretary of homeland security for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, which Mr. Trump has proposed disbanding. “We are less safe now and the risks are higher now.”Mr. Trump’s aides maintain that his policies have restored national security to the United States by tightening its borders and pursuing sweeping deportations of immigrants in the country without legal status.The Department of Homeland Security has been quick to publicize arrests over the weekend of 11 Iranians in the United States illegally, including one who was on a terrorism watch list. And the White House has sought to redirect attention to the Biden administration’s border policies, contending that the record number of migrants who crossed into the United States in recent years posed a significant risk to the nation.“We’re doing everything that we can to keep our people safe,” Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday. “This is one of the reasons why border security is national security: is if you let a bunch of crazy people into your country, those crazy people can eventually take action. We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that doesn’t happen and to keep Americans safe.”The approach by the Trump administration, however, ignores some of the more modern ways that Iran or its proxy groups could target the United States, according to national security officials.And even though Iran and Israel have agreed to a cease-fire, national security officials warned that the nation was still exposed to retaliation from Iran or its proxies, particularly one cloaked in sensitive computer systems.A rally in support of the Iranian armed forces in Tehran on Tuesday.Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times“We are not out of the woods yet in terms of what Iran will try to do as payback,” said Thomas S. Warrick, a former counterterrorism official in the Trump, Obama and Bush administrations. “But there’s a host of D.H.S. programs that were intended to help defend the United States homeland from those attacks, and we’re going to find that many of those programs have been adversely affected.”Mr. Trump and his allies have long held animosity for CISA, the agency he signed into law in his first term that would eventually declare the 2020 election was one of the best-run in history — undercutting Mr. Trump’s claims. In early March, Mr. Trump slashed more than $10 million in funding to two critical cybersecurity intelligence-sharing programs that helped detect and deter cyberattacks and alerted state and local governments about forthcoming attacks on cybernetworks.CISA has also canceled contracts that affected more than a hundred cybersecurity specialists with a range of specialties. In its 2026 budget request, the administration also proposed cutting more than 1,000 positions from the agency, which is funded to hire more than 3,700 people.“It takes a huge toll on our readiness to meet the challenges like what we may face if Iran chooses to retaliate in the United States in some way,” said Suzanne Spaulding, a homeland security under secretary for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure in the Obama administration. “Not only do you have a decimated work force and fewer people — you’ve lost experts and institutional knowledge, and expertise has walked out the door.”In that budget request, the administration also proposed dismantling the office tasked with countering weapons of mass destruction and absorbing its functions into other parts of the department — an action that Ms. Callahan said would “dissipate the mission.”At the same time, Mr. Trump is hoping to secure about $175 billion in new spending to enforce his ambitious anti-immigration agenda through his domestic policy legislation, which is still making its way through Congress. The administration has also redirected many federal agents to assist ICE for its deportation campaign, including F.B.I. agents who have been pulled from their usual tasks of cybersecurity, counterintelligence or criminal work.ICE agents in New York last month. Thousands of federal agents have been pulled into Mr. Trump’s immigration plans. Credit...Dakota Santiago for The New York TimesThe Times reported in May that the Justice Department decided that about 2,000 of its federal agents — from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — were required to help find and arrest undocumented immigrants for the remainder of the year.But in the days since the attack on Iran, F.B.I. officials are pivoting to address the threats posed by Iran.“Perhaps, in hindsight, forcing out the most experienced national security senior executives, and having counterterrorism and counter intelligence agents and analysts spend their time assisting on immigration roundups, might not have been the most well-thought-out ideas,” said Michael Feinberg, a former F.B.I. agent who spent years handling national security matters before abruptly leaving the bureau several weeks ago.The F.B.I., in a statement, declined to comment on personnel decisions but said the agency does “continuously assess and realign our resources to respond to the most pressing threats to our national security and to ensure the safety of the American people.”Mike Sena, the president of an association representing information-gathering “fusion centers” spread across the country that are partially funded by the Department of Homeland Security, said he noticed that many of the federal officials who worked with state and local law enforcement agencies had left their jobs. Many of his peers in the law enforcement community are also concerned that they may not be able to rely on federal funding.“How do you sustain and maintain the capabilities from even a year ago when folks aren’t there anymore?” Mr. Sena said.June 24, 2025, 10:56 a.m. ETThe German Air Force during a NATO military exercise in May.Credit...Associated PressGermany announced a budget on Tuesday that would increase its military spending to 3.5 percent of its economic output by 2026 and expand funding to improve its crumbling infrastructure, as part of an investment push aimed at kick-starting the country’s sluggish economy.The proposed spending plan was presented hours before members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization gathered in The Hague for a meeting during which they are expected to support a resolution to raise military spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product.For decades, Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has failed to invest in its public infrastructure and has lagged behind other NATO member countries on military spending. But amid pressure from President Trump and a growing concern among Western Europeans of the threat posed by Russia, Germany is reversing course.“What we are doing here is a paradigm shift in investment policy,” Lars Klingbeil, the country’s finance minister, told reporters in presenting the draft budget in Berlin on Tuesday.The budget relies heavily on borrowing to pay for investments this year worth 115.7 billion euros, or $134 billion, of which €62.4 billion is earmarked for military spending.Under the framework, Germany’s funding for its military will increase to at least 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product by 2026. It will continue to raise spending through 2029, which will be needed if it is to reach the proposed 5 percent NATO benchmark, which Mr. Trump has demanded members meet.The proposals were approved by the cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but they have come under criticism for what some German lawmakers and representatives from opposing parties see as excessive borrowing.But Mr. Klingbeil defended the moves as necessary if Germany and its army, the Bundeswehr, are to remain competitive.“It’s about the future viability of the country, and we won’t have won a single prize if we say in 20 years’ time that we have complied with all the rules that may have existed at some point, but the schools are still broken, the Bundeswehr can’t defend us and the bridges no longer support us,” he said.The proposal still needs to pass in the German Parliament, which is expected to vote on it in September.The increase in borrowing would double interest payments over the next four years, a clear departure in a country that enshrined the need for a balanced budget into its Constitution more than a decade ago. Disputes over whether to allow for more borrowing caused the collapse of the previous government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.In March, Mr. Merz rushed a law through Parliament that loosened the limits on military spending above 1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. The law also exempted investments on intelligence and information security from the limits. Mr. Merz also agreed to create a new fund worth €500 billion — almost $550 billion — to spend on infrastructure over 12 years.The German economy has failed to grow over the past two years, and businesses have been looking to Mr. Merz’s government to cut energy costs and red tape for new investments, as well as provide incentives for companies to spend more.Since Mr. Merz took office in early May, surveys have shown that businesses are more optimistic, and economists have forecast a return to annual growth of at least 1 percent by next year, at the latest.But spending alone will not ensure the health of the German economy over the long term, said Salomon Fiedler, an economist at Berenberg, a private bank in Hamburg.“In the long run, the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz will need to pass further significant reforms,” Mr. Fiedler said, citing tax changes as an example. “Otherwise, structural problems could once again weigh heavily on the growth outlook once the fiscal boost has run its course.”June 24, 2025, 5:04 a.m. ETLara JakesLara Jakes covers global conflicts and diplomacy. She reported from The Hague.The NATO summit will begin Tuesday in The Hague, with the American attack on Iran and defense spending expected to be major topics. Credit...Matthias Schrader/Associated PressNATO opened a high-level meeting on Tuesday against the backdrop of one war in the Middle East overshadowing another on the military alliance’s doorstep. A tentative cease-fire between Israel and Iran is expected to dominate discussions, muting mention of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.But NATO has other things to worry about at its annual summit of alliance leaders in The Hague, the Netherlands — namely, maintaining a unified front amid an internal spat over military spending.A new cease-fire, announced by President Trump late Monday, could rally NATO states toward a common goal. “Counterintuitively, this could have a positive effect on the NATO summit,” said Liana Fix, a Europe expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, because it could distract from “escalation on other issues.”But there was uncertainty Tuesday over whether the cease-fire had taken hold, with Mr. Trump suggesting that both countries had continued fighting.“Heading to NATO where, at worst, it will be a much calmer period than what I just went through with Israel and Iran,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.“Hopefully, much will be accomplished!” he wrote.Mark Rutte, NATO’s affable secretary general, predicted that the question of the cease-fire would not draw attention from the summit’s main focus.If NATO can’t “deal with the Middle East, which is very big in commanding all the headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we should not be in the business of politics and military,” he said on Tuesday.But his efforts to preserve a short and sweet summit, which wraps up Wednesday, are far from assured.Even as Mr. Trump was making his way to the summit on Tuesday, he may have added to jitters in Europe by refusing to commit to a touchstone of NATO, its Article 5 — the promise by NATO nations to come to each other’s defense. When asked by reporters about that, he said: “Depends on your definition.”Still, he added: “I’ve become friends with many of those leaders, and I’m committed to helping them.” And he said he would say more when he arrived at the summit.Defense spending debateMr. Trump’s demand that all NATO states raise defense spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product — up from 2 percent — had been among the few agenda items that Mr. Rutte hoped would be unanimously approved.Earlier this month, allies agreed to increase defense investments by fivefold, with more air defense systems, fighter jets, tanks, drones and troops. How to pay for it was to be settled at this week’s summit.Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general, said that the NATO states had agreed to invest more in defense.Credit...John Thys/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesHeading to The Hague on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that the 5 percent would give Europe “much more power.”But he expressed exasperation with Spain after its prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said on Sunday that his country would spend “no more, no less,” than 2.1 percent G.D.P. on defense.“Spain’s not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them,” Mr. Trump said.On Sunday, Mr. Sanchez said the 5 percent threshold “would be incompatible with our welfare state and our worldview.” A statement released by his office said a final agreement with Mr. Rutte maintains that “not all allies are bound to the 5 percent target.”Mr. Rutte maintained on Tuesday that allies would agree to the 5 percent target after asserting on Monday that there was “no opt-out” for Spain.Matthew Kroenig, an expert at the Atlantic Council, said unity might be reached if allies are “fuzzy on the timeline.”But, he noted, “if one ally gets a waiver, why won’t other countries seek similar arrangements?”What about Ukraine?Unlike the last three NATO leaders’ summits, all following Russia’s invasion in 2022, Ukraine will not feature prominently this time. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is expected to attend a high-level dinner with the other national leaders Tuesday, and foreign ministers will hold a meeting to consult about battlefield priorities.The American-led flood of weapons pledges from NATO countries will be more limited, and earlier assurances of Ukraine’s eventual membership in the alliance will not be part of the program.Still, allies in Europe and Canada have already provided Ukraine with $35 billion in security assistance so far this year, Mr. Rutte said — more than halfway to the $50 billion goal for 2025.“There is not going to be much said about Ukraine by NATO,” said Kurt Volker, a former NATO ambassador during the George W. Bush administration and a special envoy to Ukraine during Mr. Trump’s first administration.A destroyed apartment building in Kyiv on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is expected to attend a dinner with NATO leaders, but Ukraine is not expected to be a central topic of this summit.Credit...Thomas Peter/ReutersHe said that is because the Trump administration and European leaders diverge on the threat Russia poses to Europe and NATO if Ukraine does not survive as a sovereign state.Alliance unityThe quandary over Ukraine and the looming spending spat have raised concern over the extent to which the Trump administration is committed to European security and, in turn, NATO itself.The Pentagon is reviewing its troop positions around the world, in plans that could cut thousands from NATO’s eastern flank. The review will be completed in coming months.“Ask any European leader whether they believe that the United States is as committed to Article 5 today as it was a year ago, and you will hear an unequivocal no,” said Michael R. Carpenter, who oversaw Europe policy in the Biden White House.Some allies also are questioning NATO’s current relevancy. Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, said last week that NATO needs to rethink its mission amid broader global challenges.“NATO, like it is, doesn’t have reason to exist,” Mr. Crosetto said.But Mr. Rutte predicted that the shared threat by Russia would bring allies together.Regarding American commitment to NATO, “My message to my European colleagues is, stop worrying so much,” he said on Tuesday. “They are there. They are with us.”José Bautista contributed reporting from Madrid, and Tyler Pager from the Netherlands.