Pete Hegseth accuses Nato countries of ‘free riding’ in combative address
US defence secretary addresses allies in latest attempt to get Europe to raise military budgets Pete Hegseth has announced a review of the US military presence across Europe, in a combative address to Nato allies where he threatened to cut force numbers in countries spending the least on defence. The US defence secretary, speaking at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, accused some countries of “free riding” and others of being shameful for not allowing their airbases to be used by…



