nicholas burns and douglas lute in their op-ed today write that nato is is still the strongest military aloins, but the greatest danger is the absence of a strong principled leadership for the first time in history. what do you make of that assessment. >> i share the assess isment of the problems that we're facing. we are in a you anemunique situ. we have an alliance that's responded strongly and very capably against the reemergence of a threat from the east, in particular in the aftermath of the russian invasion of ukraine. nato has stood up and put its forces into the eastern europe, has bolstered its presence in the baltic countries across the air space of the baltic countries. the u.s. deployed new troops into norway. which hasn't been there since the end of the cold war. and has increased spending on the defense. that's one positive element and the the united states under the trump administration contributed to those efforts. but we are seeing something that is quite new and unique. who doesn't lock as an essential part of the national security strategy. and that's a change from th

. >> let me ask you about a report that was presented by douglas lute in serving the leaders of natoies across europe, he came to the conclusion and this is part of a study, he came to the conclusion the single greatest challenge to nato is the sense that the president of the united states is not committed to the alliance. >> well, president trump has stated again and again that he is a strong supporter of nato. he did that this week in the white house. he did that in the state of the union speech, and he did that when he met the older nato leaders at the nato summit in brussels last july, and this commitment to nato is under pinned by actions because opposite to what many people believe, the united states is not reducing their presence in europe but united states is increasing their military presence in europe with more troops and more exercises and more preposition to equipment. so the united states is committed to nato in words and in deeds and this is good for europe but also good for united states because a strong nato is also good for united states, and through nato, the united