July 09, 2026
Would the U.S. Protect NATO Allies If They Were Attacked?
Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for NATO and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security Jim Townsend says he is unsure whether the US would send troops if a NATO ally were attacked, citing uncertainty over Donald Trump’s approach and the impact on allies’ security planning.
Watch the full interview on Al Jazeera.
More from CNAS
-
From Subversion to Resistance: Lessons from Russia’s War in Ukraine
This episode examines how Russian operatives and local militants in 2014 transformed political unrest in eastern Ukraine into an armed insurgency—and what it teaches us about ...
By Celeste Wallander
-
Aug 07, ’26 Washington Roundtable
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security joins Defense & Aerospa...
By Jim Townsend
-
Gulf States Distance Themselves from Trump as Iran Tensions Escalate
“Not only are they hardening their stance against Iran, but they also seem to be distancing themselves somewhat from the United States." Despite Saudi Arabia joining the strik...
By Jim Townsend
-
Ukraine's Command Shake-Up: Fedorov Out, Drapatyi In
On July 15th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed now–former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the architects of Ukraine’s technological transformation o...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend