The Future of NATO

When NATO’s founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949, they declared themselves “resolved to unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security.” The greatest threat to these objectives was a military attack by a hostile power—a prospect that led to the treaty’s most famous provision, Article V, which states, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an at...