NATO ambassador visits alma mater Xavier University, rallies support for alliance

The U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization returned for the first time in three decades to her alma mater Xavier University with a message.

NATO is still relevant to the nation's security, Ambassador Julianne Smith told students at Xavier University on Tuesday.

"NATO is an institution that has always enjoyed strong support from Americans," Smith said in a panel discussion with students from Xavier and the University of Cincinnati. "And I think Americans intuitively understand the value of this alliance."

NATO has become a divisive topic and campaign issue in the presidential race.

Former president Donald Trump has called the 75-year-old alliance among European and North American powers "obsolete" and has threatened to pull some or all of the country's support for NATO. President Joe Biden called Trump's comments on NATO "un-American."

Does Trump threaten NATO?

Smith didn't weigh in on the presidential race.

When asked by The Enquirer about whether Trump's election would jeopardize the 75-year-old alliance, Smith said she wasn't concerned about the future of the U.S.'s involvement in NATO. She gave Trump credit for pushing NATO allies to spend more on defense.

"It is not a partisan issue," Smith said. "All U.S. presidents have supported the NATO alliance for over seven decades. And I don't expect that to change."

Trump has pushed for more NATO members to contribute more money for military defense. NATO members are asked to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. While not all members reach this goal, the alliance has made progress, Smith said, with 20 of the 32 members reaching that benchmark. That's up from three members 10 years ago, she said.

The organization is crucial to world security and a safeguard against any potential hostility from Russia, Smith said.

"We're extremely worried by Russian behavior of late," Smith said. "We're closely monitoring the nuclear saber-rattling that we've seen on the part of the Russians."

Smith added NATO doesn't have any indication Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. She hopes NATO will serve as a deterrence.

Ambassador to meet with business leaders, Cincinnati mayor

She told The Enquirer she hopes her visit to Cincinnati will help rally the public to NATO's cause. The NATO ambassador planned to dine with members of the Cincinnati business community Tuesday night and meet with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval on Wednesday.

"First and foremost, I want to listen and I want to understand how Americans today are thinking about an array of security challenges," Smith told The Enquirer in a 15-minute interview after she held a roundtable with local students. "All of the challenges that we're facing today, whether it's Russian aggression, or climate change, or the threat of terrorism, I mean, none of the national security challenges that we're facing can strictly be solved by governments alone."

From XU to NATO

Smith credits Xavier University, where she graduated in 1991, for setting her on her path to international diplomacy.

In the late 1980s, Smith came to Cincinnati from suburban Detroit hoping to become a journalist. She enrolled in the communications program at Xavier University and spent a year in Paris.

"It was there, as I was studying French, I had a deeper appreciation of European security issues, Trans-Atlantic policy, and a drive to get more engaged in public policy," Smith told The Enquirer on Tuesday.

Upon graduating from Xavier, Smith embarked on a three-decade-long journey that led in 2021 to her current appointment as the ambassador to NATO.

"Americans in their bones understand why NATO was created 75 years ago, and why we still needed today to deal with an ever-present Russian threat," Smith told The Enquirer. "We cannot let Russia prevail in Ukraine."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NATO ambassador talks Russia, Ukraine at Xavier University