European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, Germany & Netherlands – ECCI
US weighs measures against NATO laggards
euractiv ـ The US is considering measures against NATO allies that fail to present a credible path towards meeting the alliance’s new 5% defence spending target, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said on Wednesday.
Asked during a briefing with journalists whether Washington was weighing consequences for laggards, Whitaker replied: “Yes, but nothing I’ll talk about on this call.
He said allies that increased spending should receive tangible benefits, including possible priority in defence acquisition and procurement, while stressing that all members were expected to make a credible commitment to the spending goal agreed by NATO leaders.
Whitaker also discussed the ongoing US review of its force posture in Europe, saying it will include input from US European Command and consultations with Congress and allies, and would focus solely on military requirements.
He added that Washington would likely discuss access, basing and overflight arrangements with allies during that process, underlining that President Donald Trump had expressed disappointment with some countries over restrictions on the use of US bases and political criticism surrounding recent US military operations.
Whitaker also criticised what he described as protectionist elements in European defence initiatives, warning against rules that exclude non-EU allies, including the US and Turkey, from defence industrial cooperation. This, despite noting earlier in the call that “since the Hague, allies have committed nearly $120 billion in defence spending, half of it being spent on American-made equipment and armaments.”
Palantir’s AI system wins NATO approval, says there is no US ‘kill switch’
Palantir’s Maven Smart System (MSS) has obtained NATO’s green light for operational use after securing Full Technical Operational Capability and full accreditation for use on the alliance’s classified networks.
The milestone clears the way for deployment of the AI system across Allied Command Operations headquarters, embedding artificial intelligence deeper into NATO’s command-and-control architecture and accelerating operational integration across the alliance.
The platform, which Euractiv got a sneak peek of its demo version on Wednesday, draws on operational experience from multiple defence environments, including recent conflicts such as Ukraine and Iran, and is aimed at improving data-driven decision-making for ministries of defence.
Palantir’s MSS is designed to connect operational networks across NATO and support multiple AI models, including France’s Mistral AI and Meta’s open-source systems.
“Because we are not a data provider, when a customer licenses Palantir software, it doesn’t come with any data in it. The customer decides, in accordance with their policy, doctrinal, and legal responsibilities, how to use it and host it. They always retain ownership,” Palantir France Deputy CEO Pierre Lucotte said.
European defence customers operate “sovereign instances of the software,” Louis Mosley, Palantir’s executive vice president UK & Europe, said, adding: “There’s no kill switch, no back door, and no ability for anyone in the US to remotely remove that capability from the networks on which it’s deployed, because those networks are sovereign.”
The platform enables clients to combine national intelligence data with commercial applications and is capable of integrating a wide spectrum of information to produce fresh reports and analysis from the battlefield.
The system can support every military operation, from planning to kinetic operations.
Lucotte said the accreditation is the result of two decades of work building operational software for complex institutions.
“For the past 20 years, Palantir has been building and deploying software that helps large, complex organisations improve their operational efficiency by making more efficient and accountable use of their data,” he said, adding that the platform provides “an integrated, secure and interoperable foundation for data-driven operations across an organisation.”
European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies, Germany & Netherlands – ECCI
