From Galesburg, Ill. to NATO, I learned our security is never secure.

It was my first international summit, but the occasion marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And here I was, little me, a granddaughter of a British war bride who spent her childhood in bomb shelters, with a front row seat.

The leaders of the NATO countries were going to show solidarity and peace by walking across a bridge from Germany to France.

In my travels around the globe, I found there's some truth to stereotypes.? Americans — we're generally brash, and demanding. (Myself included.)? My German counterparts presented as precise and confident.? The French had a more artsy and relaxed air.? And all of us were planning this walk for world leaders across a bridge.

Both the delegation leaders from Germany and France were ever professional —?and ever so different.? They would joke about each other's camera angles, the precision by which events would start on time, and how the two countries were arranging a multilateral meeting — together.

As the bridge walk started, something to understand is that there are always peacock leaders — those who want to stand out.? At that NATO Summit, that leader was Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Chancellor Merkel of Germany had warned everyone she would be on time.? She pointed at her watch when President Obama had been late to meet her. And so when Prime Minister Berlusconi got out of the car and took a phone call, Merkel made the call to leave him behind. The leaders walked together across the bridge, in a show of peace and solidarity, with Berlusconi eventually trailing behind, caught with the precision of the German cameras, and the artistic quality of the French cameras.

I saw global dynamics on a very personal scale.? These leaders were responsible for our peace and security.? And that security is so very vulnerable to any one thing going wrong, one personality out of step.

I’m reflecting on that experience as I return to NATO now more than a decade later.?

Our Global Situation Room team is traveling to Madrid this week for the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid. It feels like a world apart from our walk across a bridge.?

From a folksy, almost goofy vision of unity we are now in a world in which NATO's security is threatened by Russia's President Vladimir Putin's actions in unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation, and showing no remorse. A world in which Europe's security is under attack, our supply chains have been disrupted, one where parts of the globe are on the brink of starvation, as we face an energy crisis this winter.

I think it's easy to feel like we're in a bubble in America (it might go back to the brash stereotype)..? And we can be so insularly focused.? We've paid attention to Ukraine, but because it's closer, we've paid closer attention to high gas prices.? And I don't blame anyone.

After my parents moved us to Galesburg, Ill., I grew up in a town that has faced its own economic crisis. My dad always said, “Everyone has problems.”?And that was certainly true. In Galesburg, gas prices - they are absolutely the first thing you see everyday when you have to pay to drive to a job that doesn't pay the same a generation ahead.?

But I've realized sometimes that it's hard to see the forest through the trees.

We're in this spot with high gas prices because our security is threatened.? And yes - it's our security at stake. Europe's security is threatened but make no mistake: Putin is threatened by America.? He sees himself as the leader of the world and when we have alliances, and partners, and we work together to bring about more freedom, more light to dark places, that threatens a former KGB Operative and Authoritarian who poses shirtless with wild cats.

As the President goes to NATO, we often hear about his political future and about infighting in the administration.? And I understand that storyline.? But I really think the context is bigger than one person.?As the US President goes to NATO, America's security is under threat.

US Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates was recently on our Podcast, the One Decision Podcast and said the same thing that Alyssa Farah and I wrote in early 2021 —? that our biggest security threat remains our own political division.? But also our enemies know our vulnerabilities and they prey on them.

Our team is headed to NATO as part of our work with One Decision, tracking down those who are actively engaged in our peace and security, and having real meaningful conversations.

We invite you to join us next week, virtually.? On Tuesday June 28 we'll bring together top leaders from NATO, Chatham House, Times of London and One Decision's host Julia Macfarlane.? You can sign up to view the event live here.? You can also follow the podcast and download this week's episode with Bob Gates, here. If you’ll be in Spain for the Summit, please do reach out.?

I’m conscious that we all have our differences - but like the leaders I saw up close, we can find humor and appreciate what makes us unique, even when some of us are running late or playing to type. Because those of us who believe in peace and security, freedom and individual rights, we must work together if we want to maintain and grow rights around the world.?