For NATO, a first: 5 female defense ministers

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO has registered a first in its long history, with five women among the defense ministers who turned up Wednesday to attend a policy-making meeting at the alliance’s headquarters.

The latest woman to join the ministerial ranks was Italy’s Roberta Pinotti, who was sworn in Saturday as her country’s first female defense minister. The 52-year-old served as an undersecretary for defense in the just-ended government of Enrico Letta. First elected to Parliament in 2001, she is now a senator. She began her political career two decades ago as a lower-ranking official in what was then Italy’s Communist Party.