State Department Reprograms $52M in Military Aid From NATO Members Slovakia, North Macedonia to Latin America

The State Department notified Congress on September 15, 2026 that it will reprogram $52 million in Foreign Military Financing away from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq — two of them NATO members — and redirect it to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, roughly doubling the FMF those four Western Hemisphere countries had been due to receive in 2026. A State Department official said the funds are meant to 'combat narcoterrorism in our own backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal' and to 'reduce opportunities for adversaries' — a veiled reference to China's growing footprint in Latin America — following Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visits to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru the prior week. The move follows a National Security Strategy released at the end of 2025 that signaled a more hands-off US approach to European and Middle Eastern security in favor of Western Hemisphere priorities, and lands the same week as Pentagon officials brief NATO allies on the Europe force-posture review; critics quoted by TIME said the reprogramming, while modest in dollar terms, risks 'eroding trust' among allies including two NATO members already anxious about US reliability.