By Daniel Michaels
BRUSSELS -- NATO military chiefs are on a daunting mission: Ignore the news.
As the alliance's political leaders worked this week to defuse the most serious trans-Atlantic political crisis in decades -- over President Trump's demand that Denmark cede control of Greenland -- top brass and troops from the 32 militaries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization fought to avoid the distraction of current events.
At a NATO gathering early this week, a senior official began by telling attendees that -- despite the political drama -- nothing had changed for them, according to a military officer who attended. The message was echoed across briefings and conversations over recent days, say people across the NATO.
Staying focused is vital, say senior officers, because militaries are like emergency services and must be ready to respond immediately to dangers. NATO, with a collective population of roughly one billion, covers territory from Alaska to the Black Sea, and commanders drill constantly so that they can "fight tonight," as they put it.
For people linked to the alliance, tuning out the news so directly connected to their work has been difficult at times. Trump, in his address Wednesday at Davos, lashed out at NATO, which was founded by the U.S. in 1949, and at its European members.
"The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO," Trump said. "What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing, except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia. I mean, we've helped them for so many years, we've never gotten anything."
NATO defenders note that the only time the alliance's mutual-defense pact was triggered was to support the U.S. after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and say that the U.S. has gained from having a large group of allies.
In a sign of NATO's approach, which several people at alliance headquarters this week summarized as "keep calm and carry on," its committee of national military leaders began their regular meeting on Wednesday around the time Trump spoke in Davos -- and tuned it out, according to attendees.
"We of course are aware of the political discussions that are going on, but there was never a military dimension to those discussions that made its way to us," said U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's top military commander, after the committee meeting.
The military group meets every three months, including a September gathering that rotates among member countries. This year, by chance, that gathering will take place in Denmark, following a decision announced last September and not at all linked to recent events, say officials.
Committee Chairman Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, an Italian admiral who is the top military adviser to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, said this week's two-day meeting was "totally uneventful" in relation to Greenland.
Because war and conflict can be wildly unpredictable, NATO -- and most military organizations -- try to make most of their work as routine as possible. Operations are scheduled months in advance, largely because bringing together forces from many countries entails complex planning and logistics.
Over recent days, NATO and member countries have announced or promoted coming exercises, including several across the Arctic region. Norway on Friday posted details of its Cold Response maneuvers in March, billed as its largest of the year, led by a Norwegian-U. S. headquarters near the Arctic city of Bodo, Norway.
Aimed at improving how allied troops cooperate in punishing High North conditions, the exercise will bring together some 25,000 soldiers from 14 alliance countries including the U.S., Canada and Denmark, as well as Spain and Turkey, according to the Norwegian defense ministry.
On Wednesday, a NATO command center in the Netherlands held a briefing on the coming Steadfast Dart maneuvers, described as "NATO's most extensive and visible military exercise of 2026." It is spread across Central Europe and includes mainly European militaries, who intend to test the integration of land, air maritime, space, cyber and special-operations forces, NATO said.
Uniformed staff aren't alone in trying to block out news. In parallel to NATO's military command is a civilian bureaucracy, supplemented by 32 national embassies. Several resident diplomats said over recent days that it felt odd to work inside the headquarters "bubble," continuing ongoing work while knowing about disputes linked to NATO are raging in Davos, across the Atlantic and on social media.
To officers and diplomats who worked through past moments of tension, including disputes over the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, today's disputes look familiar, if more intense.
"Despite the political noise, NATO is continuing to deliver the deterrence required by one billion people," said Robbie Boyd, a retired British brigadier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other locations, and at NATO headquarters on the military committee. "It's a credit to all the staff that the political noise isn't preventing them from doing their job."
Write to Daniel Michaels at Dan.Michaels@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
A NATO military chiefs group meets three times a year. "At NATO's HQ, Military Chiefs Tune Out Battle Over Greenland," at 3 p.m., incorrectly said the group met every three months.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2026 17:12 ET (22:12 GMT)
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