STORY: NATO defence ministers posed on Thursday (February 12) for a group photo on the sidelines of a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is not attending the meeting, with U.S Under Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby, who holds the Pentagon's No. 3 post, representing the U.S. instead.

Hegseth’s absence marks the second time in a row that a top Trump administration official has skipped a NATO meeting, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio missed a gathering of the alliance's foreign ministers in December.

Those absences and repeated tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and European nations - most recently over Greenland - have prompted fresh questions from European officials and commentators about Washington's commitment to NATO, which for decades has been the foundation of the continent's defence.

Trump has repeatedly called on European nations to increase their military spending and take more responsibility for their own security, reducing their reliance on the U.S. NATO leaders responded last year by agreeing to spend 5% of their GDP on defence and security-related investments

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NATO defence ministers pose for group photo in Brussels

VIDEO SHOWS: NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 12, 2026) (AGENCY POOL – Access all)

1. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS GATHERING FOR GROUP PHOTO

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 12, 2026) (NATO – Access all)

2. NATO SECRETARY GENERAL, MARK RUTTE, AND GERMAN DEFENCE MINISTER, BORIS PISTORIUS, DISCUSSING

3. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS GATHERING FOR GROUP PHOTO

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 12, 2026) (AGENCY POOL – Access all)

4. U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENCE, ELBRIDGE COLBY, TAKING HIS PLACE NEXT TO RUTTE

5. BRITISH DEFENCE MINISTER, JOHN HEALEY, TALKING TO COUNTERPART

6. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS TALKING, AHEAD OF GROUP PHOTO

7. BELGIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, THEO FRANCKEN, AND ALBANIAN DEFENCE MINISTER, PIRRO VENGU, TALKING; FRENCH ARMED FORCES MINISTER CATHERINE VAUTRIN TALKING TO PISTORIUS IN ROW BEHIND

8. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 12, 2026) (NATO – Access all)

9. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

10. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS LEAVING STAGE

11. RUTTE AND COLBY LEAVING STAGE

12. NATO DEFENCE MINISTERS WALKING AWAY