America is made less safe by remaining in NATO. The opportunity costs of the United States’ counter-productive commitment to European security imperil real national-security interests, especially in Asia. Giving Europe a few years to get its house in order before an American pullout is a reasonable hedge against miscalculation and escalation. That prudence aside, the United States should withdraw from the alliance as quickly as possible. NATO at seventy is decades past its retirement age.

Gil Barndollar is the Military Fellow-in-Residence at the Catholic University of America’s Center for the Study of Statesmanship and a fellow with Defense Priorities. He served as a U.S. Marine infantry officer from 2009 to 2016, deploying twice to Afghanistan as part of the NATO-ISAF mission.

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