A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
NATO is one of the many national and global institutions that President-elect Donald Trump has criticized over the years - specifically how much money other countries spend on defense.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
He suggested Russia could do, quote, "whatever the hell they want" to members that don't pay their fair share. He's threatened to leave the alliance and so forth, and now he's named a new ambassador to NATO.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Stephen Fowler joins us now. So Donald Trump, Stephen, announced he's nominating Matthew Whitaker to that role. Who is Matthew Whitaker, and what does Donald Trump want him to do?
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Whitaker's a lawyer. He once served as a U.S. attorney in Iowa, but more recently served as chief of staff to Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions. He later spent three months as acting AG. Whitaker has no national security experience, no foreign policy experience, no diplomatic background, and is unlike other NATO ambassadors. But what he does have is an intense loyalty to Donald Trump. He's been very active in blasting Trump's criminal investigations, especially through appearances on Fox News. And Trump said in the announcement, Whitaker, quote, "will strengthen relationships with our NATO allies and stand firm in the face of threats to peace and stability. He will put America first."
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, is Whitaker's selection a signal of Donald Trump taking a tougher stance toward Europe?
FOWLER: Whitaker comes in with a blank slate that will immediately be filled with Trump's mandate. Now, Trump's main beef with NATO, A, boils down to the U.S. paying an outsized financial and organizational role in a European alliance. So I called a few experts to ask what posture Whitaker may take. Anatol Lieven is with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. They're a think tank that calls for restraint in U.S. foreign policy. He pointed out that Trump's top foreign policy priorities in the Middle East require having friends elsewhere.
ANATOL LIEVEN: America is not a European country. It's thousands of miles away. The U.S. Mediterranean fleet needs a base in Italy and Greece. The U.S. Air Force needs a base in Germany.
FOWLER: I also spoke with Michael O'Hanlon with the Brookings Institute (ph). He studies international alliances and highlighted the part of Trump's statement about strengthening relationships suggests Trump would not pull out of NATO, but rather pull back America's role in European geopolitics.
MICHAEL O'HANLON: I think that if Trump threatens allies with the possibility of weakening the U.S. commitment to NATO, but still stays in the alliance and keeps U.S. troops in Europe, then we'll be OK.
MARTÍNEZ: Thing is, though, Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine quickly, and Ukraine's a key focus of NATO resources. I mean, how does this pick fit into that?
FOWLER: Well, when dealing with NATO and conversations around the war, O'Hanlon with the Brookings Institute says Whitaker may have one advantage that arguably is very important - and that's Trump's ear.
O'HANLON: You can be a brilliant expert on European security going back to the Middle Ages. But if you have no access to the president or limited access, even, to the secretary of state, it's not going to do that much for you.
FOWLER: Trump has signaled that the America First agenda includes some doubt about how much the U.S. will commit to Ukraine and the war effort. It's also possible that his proposed peace plan could be different from NATO's goals, especially if Trump suggests Ukraine give up some of its territory. So all of this, A, makes the NATO ambassadorship one of Trump's picks that has a more immediate impact as soon as he takes office in January.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Stephen, good to talk to you again.
FOWLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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