Day: September 28, 2026

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Des Moines, Iowa – 22 September 2026
1. U.S. Ambassador to NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Matthew Whitaker and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walking through a door into event hall
2. Whitaker smiling on stage
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS PARTLY OVERLAID WITH THE FOLLOWING SHOTS++
“A lot of the drones that are, you know, going into Romania or Poland, and I would say by and large are affected by electronic warfare and unintentional. It’s just a more aggressive war posture on both sides is causing just a lot more activity at the borders.”
4. Wide of stage and audience during the Chicago Council on Global Affairs event
++COVERED++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO:
“The hybrid activities on the sabotage front, I think, are more concerning.”
++SOUNDBITE PARTLY OVERLAID WITH THE FOLLOWING SHOTS++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO:
“We’re making sure we’re you know, kind of tracking these things, making sure that is there more or less activity so that we can have a baseline to see sort of the volume of the sabotage and the hybrid activities. But right now, I think the secretary general(Mark Rutte), myself, all the ambassadors at the table, and especially the supreme allied commander are plugged in and on top of it.”
7. Close of Rutte while Whitaker is speaking
8. Close of Whitaker speaking on stage
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO:
“And I don’t think that it is in anybody’s interest to head towards conflict. I think one of the things that we have to be very careful is overreacting to any sort of hybrid activity. That’s exactly what I think our adversaries would want or hope for.”
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General:
“My message to the Europeans is: Hey, we have prepared for this. We are stronger. Russia knows that. So, stay calm in the sense that we know Putin is not in a good place.”
++WHITE FRAMES++
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General:
++SOUNDBITE PARTLY OVERLAID WITH THE FOLLOWING SHOTS++
“I’m not going to try to interpret what Putin is thinking or whatever, I mean, I gave that up a long time ago. We have to make sure that we are prepared, we are strong and he knows it. And if he does anything silly, he knows our reaction will be tough. We will never be aggressive, but if necessary, we will defend ourselves and every inch of our territory. He knows it.”
12. Whitaker speaking next to Rutte on stage
13. Wide of stage during the Chicago Council on Global Affairs event
STORYLINE:
The U.S. ambassador to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Matthew Whitaker, dismissed any concerns that Russia may be testing the transatlantic military alliance, Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Whitaker spoke to the AP after a panel discussion in Des Moines, Iowa, and said, “Putin does not want a conflict with NATO.”

He said drone incursions into countries like Romania or Poland were largely the result of electronic warfare and unintentional, but noted that hybrid activities like sabotage “are more concerning.” Whitaker also warned against “overreacting” because “that’s exactly what I think our adversaries would want or hope for.”

European countries have already faced multiple incursions of Russian drones — and several missiles — as well as a campaign of covert Russian disruption which began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

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