i think madeleine albright, our first female secretary of state, said it best when she said, we know that when the democracies of europe and america are divided, crevices are created through which forces of evil and aggression may emerge, but when we stand together, there is no greater force than our solidarity on behalf of freedom. that's it, it is our solidarity, the solidarity that makes nato's stronger and has made nato one of the most successful alliances in history, and one that has made the alliance ready for tomorrow's challenges. thank you. i look forward to your questions. [applause] thank you. >> well, thank you, ambassador smith. thank you to everyone for being here. i'm david sanger from the new york times. just so you understand the order of the next few minutes, the ambassador and i are going to talk for about half an hour, and then we are going to go out to questions for everybody. there are a couple of microphones lined up where you can stand for your questions. thank you for this. thanks for coming all the way from brussels. great to see you again. we had offices ne