Defense Secretary Ash Carter has refused to say whether NATO is relevant, saying that commenting on the matter is tied up in presidential politics.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., asked Carter the question during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, noting that Brussels is the home of NATO and the alliance plays a major role in the United States’ strategy to protect Europe from Russia and fight the Islamic State in the Middle East. He cited comments from GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who raised the issue of the alliance’s relevance this week.
Trump told the Washington Post that “NATO was set up at a different time,” and “I think NATO as a concept is good, but it is not as good as it was when it first evolved.” He also said NATO is a high expense for the U.S.
“NATO is absolutely at the center of our military strategy and operations,” Courtney said to Carter. “Is NATO relevant today? I guess we need to ask that question.”
Carter demurred, citing the political angle of the question.
“I recognize that this is an election year,” he said. “I will not speak to anything that is in the presidential debate. I believe that our department has a tradition of standing apart and I very much value and respect that tradition and so I am going to, with great respect, decline to answer an question that is framed in those terms.”
Yet high ranking Pentagon officials have commented on policies put forth by the candidates, even if they avoid directly criticizing those politicians.
For example, several generals have rebuked the notion put forward by GOP candidate Ted Cruz, who said the U.S. should carpet bomb the Islamic State. One of those generals was Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who leads the fight against the Islamic State.
“Indiscriminate bombing, where we don’t care if we’re killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values,” he said in February.
And just last week, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, who was sitting next to Carter on Tuesday, rejected Trump’s suggestions that he would bring back water-boarding and kill the families of terrorists.
“Those kinds of activities that you described are inconsistent with the values of our nation,” Dunford told Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., during a hearing on Thursday. “And quite frankly, I think it would have an adverse effect. … One of them would be on the morale of the force. And frankly, what you are suggesting are things that actually aren’t legal for them to do anyway.”
