President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Friday. Stoltenberg “congratulated the President-elect on his election victory and said that he was looking forward to working with him and his national security team,” according to a NATO press release. Both men also “underlined NATO’s enduring importance” and discussed security matters, including plans to combat terrorism. Earlier this year, Trump surprised many in the US and Europe by making statements dismissive of the NATO Alliance during the presidential campaign. Trump criticized European allies at the time for spending too little on defense while the US carried the cost burden for NATO. In their first conversation since Trump’s election on Nov. 8, he and Stoltenberg “agreed that progress has been made on fairer burden-sharing, but that there is more to do.” (See also Stoltenberg: NATO Alliance Needed More Than Ever.)
Depot-level maintenance took longer than expected for nearly three-quarters of Air Force aircraft from fiscal 2019-2024, according to a new report, as unplanned repairs rise across the aging fleet. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, also found that the extent of the delays has been masked because officials often revise their target timelines after unplanned work occurs.