Iowan and former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday for his nomination to be the U.S. Ambassador to NATO.
Whitaker was asked about the contributions to NATO’s defense systems, and says our European allies and Canada need to do more. “In the 10 years of under spending, up until the outbreak in 2022 of the war in Ukraine, I think it is really a weakness of the alliance,” he says. Whitaker says it appears President Donald Trump’s calls for them to do more is working.”We’re getting a lot of positive words from our NATO allies that they will spend dramatically more, that they finally understand this time,” he says.
Whitaker says some countries have already stepped up. “We also have some allies like Poland and some allies in the Baltics that are have been, you know, on message and are spending much more. And so we have to make sure that we don’t group everybody in one group, and chastise them all, because there’s many allies that are doing more,” he says. Whitaker says those countries are increasing their contribution mainly because of their location on the border of Russia.
Whitaker says the issue is not just a matter of spending money, “It is how that money is spent, making sure it goes to modernization, interoperability, to address the hybrid threats in cyber, in space,” Whitaker says. “You know, we’re seeing sea cables cut in the Baltic Sea. All of these issues are NATO is on the forefront, and that alliance is built and should be equipped to address those threats and to be, continue to be, the most successful alliance ever conceived.” Whitaker served as chief of staff before his stint as acting attorney general in the first Trump administration.
Whitaker grew up in Ankeny and played football for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He also served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa during President George W. Bush’s second term.
Iowa’s U.S. Senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst both have spoken in support of Whitaker’s nomination.