The former supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe says the NATO alliance provides "real security" for the United States – and pushed back on Donald Trump's criticism about its members not paying their fair share.
In an interview aired Sunday with host John Catsimatidis on "The Cats Roundtable," retired Adm. James Stavridis noted the initial reason for the alliance was to guarantee peace in Europe and deter the former Soviet Union.
"Today the purpose is to work together with the second largest economy in the world," said Stavridis, referring to the European Union.
And NATO members are committed to contributing financially to the effort, said Stavridis, who was vetted by Hillary Clinton as a vice presidential running mate before she selected Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.
"Now, John, it is fair to say that not all the nations are paying the full 2 percent of their gross domestic product that they’ve pledged to, but all of them at the NATO summit just a few weeks ago in Warsaw have shown the plan to do that by 2020," he said in remarks posted by The Hill ahead of the program.
"So I think on balance it’s a very good alliance. It provides real security for the United States… Together we can create global security, and we’ve done it in a lot of different places around the world and we still have deterrence against … Russia," he added.
"So I think we still get very good value for the money there."