Eastern Flank Strategic Partnership Act of 2025

The bill defines a group of “Eastern Flank strategic defense partners.” These are NATO member countries near Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine that help defend NATO’s eastern side, commit to spending 5% of their GDP on defense by 2035, host or support NATO troop deployments, and face ongoing threats from hostile states. The bill lists Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia as included in this group. It makes it official U.S. policy to see these eastern flank partners as key to defending NATO’s eastern side and to treat them as priority recipients of U.S. security assistance. It instructs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to give these partners priority for several existing tools: Foreign Military Financing grants, Defense Department capacity-building assistance, transfers of excess defense equipment, and involvement in military exercises, training, logistics, and mobility planning. The bill also focuses on stockpiling and pre-positioning U.S. defense articles. It tells the Secretary of Defense to prioritize these partners under the existing War Reserve Stocks for Allies program and to consider expanding stockpiles to more eastern flank partner countries, as operational needs and consultations with NATO allies allow. Finally, it requires the Secretary of Defense, working with the Secretary of State, to brief key Senate committees within 180 days of enactment on how the new priorities and definitions are being put into practice, including timelines, goals, and cooperation methods.

The bill could affect how quickly NATO and the United States can respond to a crisis in Eastern Europe. By giving certain frontline NATO allies priority for military financing, training, and equipment, it aims to build up their ability to deter or respond to threats from nearby states such as Russia and Belarus. Having more U.S. equipment stockpiled in those countries can shorten response times in an emergency. For the listed NATO countries, the bill signals that they may receive more focus in U.S. defense cooperation decisions, as long as they meet the spending and deployment conditions in the definition. For the United States, it helps set clearer rules on how to use existing military assistance and stockpiling programs for NATO’s eastern flank, rather than creating new programs. The exact size of any increase in assistance or stockpiles is not specified in the text and would depend on future decisions and available resources.

• Sets a formal U.S. policy to recognize and prioritize certain NATO eastern flank countries as “Eastern Flank strategic defense partners.”
• Defines these partners using conditions on geography, defense spending (5% of GDP by 2035, with 3.5% for core defense and NATO targets and 1.5% for other defense- and security-related investments), hosting or supporting NATO deployments, and exposure to hostile state threats.
• Explicitly names Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia as Eastern Flank strategic defense partners.
• Directs the Secretaries of State and Defense to give these partners priority access to Foreign Military Financing grants.
• Directs priority access to Department of Defense capacity-building assistance under 10 U.S.C. 333.
• Directs priority access to transfers of excess U.S. defense articles under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
• Prioritizes these partners for participation in bilateral and multilateral military exercises, interoperability training, logistics, and forward mobility planning.
• Requires the Secretary of Defense to prioritize these partners under the War Reserve Stocks for Allies program and to consider expanding stockpiles to more of these countries.
• Orders a briefing to the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees within 180 days of enactment on implementation plans, timelines, goals, and cooperation mechanisms.

• The definition of “Eastern Flank strategic defense partner” includes a specific future defense spending commitment (5% of GDP by 2035), which goes beyond NATO’s standard 2% guideline.
• Hungary is explicitly listed as an Eastern Flank partner even though its policies sometimes differ from other NATO members, which could raise questions about uniform application of the criteria.
• The bill does not create new assistance programs or new funding authorizations; it reprioritizes how existing authorities and programs are used.
• Ukraine is described as being on the front line of U.S. and NATO security in the findings and policy section, but Ukraine is not defined as an “Eastern Flank strategic defense partner,” which is limited to NATO members.
• The required congressional update is a one-time briefing within 180 days, not an ongoing reporting requirement.