Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced a new six-month review of US force posture and basing in Europe, accusing the NATO alliance of being a "paper tiger."

Wake-Up Call: Outlets on the right, like Fox News (Right bias) and Breitbart (Right) tended to highlight parts of Hegseth's speech saying NATO has "for too long been a paper tiger and a one-way street." Fox News called the announcement a "wake-up call" for an alliance that has placed "an emphasis on social policy over defense." Breitbart said that Hegseth "cited the absurdity of a military alliance focused not on warfighting but on 'gender equity and climate change' and a civil Europe that threw its borders wide open to all-comers, permitting what critics have called an invasion, and the creation of welfare states that have exploded in size and now dominate national budgets ahead of all other spending." Both outlets also mentioned Hegseth's statement saying "These allies, they put America's sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all" during the conflict with Iran.

Yet Another Surprise: Outlets on the left like CNN (Lean Left) and Associated Press (Lean Left) tended to frame the announcement around what the CNN article deemed "the Trump administration's combative posture towards NATO." CNN added that Hegseth's comments "come at a critical time for Europe, which has been rattled by statements from Trump administration officials about plans to draw down the amount of US forces and hardware stationed in Europe." The Associated Press said "the threat of a review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally [the US]. Outlets like the Associated Press were also more likely to mention President Donald Trump's "threats" to annex Greenland and said that "Hegseth's comments largely mischaracterized European policies today."

The Speech: Hegseth called for our allies in Europe to "step up," explaining that a new "NATO 3.0" must replace "NATO 2.0," which according to Hegseth "lost its way" following the end of the Cold War. Hegseth said the six-month review will "be a real review" that "some nations will fail and others will pass with flying colors." The review, Hegseth asserted, will ensure the alliance moves "fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading," adding that this is why, "at the Department of War, we've been so clear and so candid to restore NATO's core military role and character."

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