NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Feb. 14 that he expected 18 of the 31 NATO members to meet the goal of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense in 2024, an increase of seven countries from the previous year. NATO allies reached an agreement following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 to halt the reduction in defense spending implemented after the Cold War, and aim to allocate at least 2% of their respective GDPs to defense by 2024. The need to increase defense spending was reignited after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In a first since the end of th…