NATO will hold its summit next week in Washington, D.C., and though the defensive alliance will celebrate 75 years of existence, its diamond jubilee will likely be overshadowed by several pressing security concerns that must be addressed.

First, NATO must affirm its support for Ukraine. The war in Ukraine rages on after more than two years, and a Russian victory must be averted. NATO should ensure a strategy is in place for the alliance’s members to make financial commitments and deliver military equipment to Ukraine to enable Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops to push back Russian forces and reclaim land lost since the invasion in February 2022. The failure of Russia’s campaign is an attainable goal, depending first and foremost on the Western will to support Ukraine. NATO should implement a long-term plan for its members to agree on financial support for the war effort and standardization of weapons and munitions production. Encouraging signals and steps toward NATO integration for Ukraine would also be an important demonstration of solidarity and support.

The alliance must also secure its eastern flank, shoring up its defenses to send a clear message to Russia that an expansion of the war into NATO territory will be met with fierce resistance. While forward deployment of troops is quite costly to contributing nations, discussions at the summit should focus on pressing members to commit more soldiers to the east and meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, passed that benchmark this year for the first time, and all NATO members should do the same in order to maintain deterrence and defense. NATO’s defenses would also be greatly strengthened through efforts during the conference to integrate Finland and Sweden, the alliance’s newest members, into NATO’s command structures.

A threat of increasing concern to NATO is China, which has greatly increased its military capabilities and cooperation with rivals of the West. On one hand, China wants to be a large economic partner to both Europe and the United States; on the other, its security policy actions are detrimental to a constructive relationship with the West. The strategic partnership between China and Russia should be monitored closely, not least China’s support for Russia that has enabled its invasion of Ukraine.

Finally, NATO should strengthen its commitment to intelligence-sharing between members, an important capability to forewarn the alliance of impending threats. NATO members each have unique intelligence-gathering capabilities and, as they were in the leadup to Russia’s 2022 invasion, they should be willing to be transparent with their intelligence. The summit should encourage NATO countries to share information with each other, especially when it concerns potential future threats to members.

Though 75 years of mutual defense is a phenomenal accomplishment for NATO, the celebration should be kept short, and the summit must focus on the daunting challenges to the alliance. Facing the greatest security threats in decades, NATO has little time to rest on its laurels.

John M. Weaver (jweaver10@ycp.edu) lives in Towson and is a retired Army lieutenant colonel and professor at York College of Pennsylvania. Tom Røseth (troseth@mil.no) is a professor at the Norwegian Defence University College and heads its Ukraine program.