I believe that American leadership has been wanting, but is still wanted. We must use what has been called "smart power": the full range of tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural -- picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation.

The alliance has grappled with diverging internal views over whether NATO should be an instrument of "hard" combat missions—generally the U.S. view—or the preference among some in Europe for "soft" power, like "humanitarian, development, peacekeeping, and talking tasks," as Gates put it.