Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (referred to in this Resolution as NATO ) will hold its next Summit meeting July 11–12, 2018, in Brussels, Belgium; Whereas the security of the United States remains inextricably linked to the security of Europe and NATO’s founding purpose remains as valid today as it has been since NATO was created; Whereas our NATO allies have contributed significantly to military operations led by the United States around the world, and actively contribute to current Alliance missions, including the reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank by leading 3 of the 4 battlegroups of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence; Whereas while an increasing number of NATO member states are fulfilling their pledges at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales to allocate 2 percent of their gross domestic product towards defense spending, all NATO member states should be urged to meet the 2 percent target and to allocate 20 percent of their annual defense spending on major new equipment, including related research and development, in order to more fairly share the burden of transatlantic defense; Whereas United States force deployments to Europe as part of the European Deterrence Initiative, and the corresponding measures by NATO member states in the Enhanced Forward Presence, are contributing to enhanced security on NATO’s eastern flank; Whereas the Russian Federation’s aggression towards its neighbors, its breach of international norms, and its noncompliance with its arms control commitments have severely impacted European security and will continue to pose a security threat for the foreseeable future; Whereas administrative and logistical obstacles to the mobility of military assets across Europe, and the potential mismatch between the speed of NATO-level decision making and the speed of a crisis, have been shown to constitute potential challenges to the successful defense of NATO’s territorial integrity