NATO has been trying for years – without success – to get its member states to spend the required 2% of GDP on defense. Compliance would mean an estimated $67 billion increase in Alliance-wide defense spending, or roughly the equivalent of adding another British or French defense budget – no panacea, but very helpful nonetheless.
由于现代军事行动的远征性质，这样的责任分担制度是一个时代错误。然而，修正这个问题说起来容易做起来难。北约几年来一直在努力使其成员国将要求的GDP的2%作为国防开支，但是没有成功。如果所有的北约成员国都遵守这一要求，就意味着联盟内的国防开支会增加大约670亿美元，这约等于增加一个英国或法国的国防预算——这样做不是万能的，但是，仍然十分有用。