Pentagon leaves several NATO allies off meeting invitation list
A Pentagon-proposed NATO working group meeting in Poland is excluding several major allies, including Britain, France and the Baltic states, Politico reports.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has not invited several significant NATO allies to a planned working group meeting in Poland focused on the alliance's future, according to Politico. The meeting was proposed by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby.
According to six diplomats involved in the planning, countries left off the invitation list include Britain, France and the Baltic states — nations that devote a significant share of their budgets to defense and are considered key alliance members. Representatives of these countries reportedly do not understand why they were excluded.
This has raised questions about whether the US administration's approach could further divide the alliance at a time when it faces intensified Russian aggression and depleted weapons stockpiles. A representative of one excluded country said their nation is doing everything asked of it, yet the criteria and purpose of the meeting remain unclear. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and the Pentagon declined to comment.
Ongoing criticism of NATO
Since returning to office, Trump and his administration have repeatedly criticized NATO — over allies' refusal to join a war against Iran and over some member states' failure to spend 5% of GDP on defense. Trump has called NATO a "one-way street," into which the US invests heavily while receiving little in return. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said allies who fail to support US interests will face consequences.
The Bergen Group
Colby has previously held two similar meetings with representatives from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands — a group known as the Bergen Group, which first met in June in Bergen. The group maintains its goal is not to weaken the alliance but to develop ideas that would later be presented to NATO as a whole. However, even some invited countries have questioned Colby's selection criteria, which excludes influential players such as Britain.
