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04-07-2026
OFF THE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA: The warning came booming over the airwaves, in a voice unmistakably from the American south: “Warship! Get out of our waters!”
Norwegian Lieutenant Thomas Johannesen and his sailors were preparing for a simulated boarding operation, a core mission for their NATO maritime unit but with so many other war games happening in the area, the crew was picking up unrelated chatter from a nearby vessel.
Johannesen pivoted to a clear frequency before addressing the cargo ship in his sights. “Please stop your vessel and accept my boarding team,” he commanded.
Reuters gained exclusive access to the NATO exercise on Friday, one in a series of US-hosted drills focused on defending the American homeland and timed to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary.
They were conducted at a perilous moment for NATO, with the Trump administration questioning the value of the 77-year-old alliance, reviewing its force posture in Europe and lashing out at long-time allies.
In an Oval Office meeting last week with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump admonished Britain, Spain, Germany and France for not doing more to support the US war in Iran.
“We’re disappointed with most of them,” the president said.
David Cattler, a former NATO intelligence chief during Trump’s first term, said the drills send a potent message about the ability and willingness of European nations to defend both sides of the Atlantic. Yet he doubted it would change minds at the Pentagon.
“It’s hard for me to see,” Cattler said.
An uneasy alliance
Trump has long believed the US shoulders too much of the cost for European security, upsetting many decades of bipartisan support for NATO in Washington.
In an address at NATO headquarters in mid-June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month Pentagon review that could lead to a drawdown of US forces in Europe. He scorned “free riding” allies and said the alliance had to be a two-way street.
The conflict in Iran has sharpened tensions further. An internal Pentagon email reported by media in April floated suspending Spain from the alliance over its refusal to grant basing and overflight rights to the US military during operations against Tehran but Spanish Marines joined the FLEETEX 250 exercises, carrying out ship-to-shore amphibious operations. French Marines also took part in drills including on heavy machine guns, at US Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The US military’s working-level embrace of allies is a sign that operational ties remain strong, experts say, transcending the political turbulence.
Drills like these are planned months or even years ahead of time. It is what militaries do to maintain readiness.
“Absent any intervention that would tell them to stop, they’re gonna continue to do it,” said Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine officer at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is just NATO being NATO,” he said.
Media spent the day with Standing NATO Maritime Group One, commanded by British Commodore Maryla Ingham, which includes frigates from Norway, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Turkey.
A journalists reached the area by helicopter, piloted by the Canadian air force, touching down on the ship’s flight deck about 40 nautical miles from the North Carolina coastline. (Int’l News Desk)
