Exclusive-Trump adviser proposes new tiered system for NATO members who don't pay up

FILE PHOTO: Keith Kellogg, national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, speaks to reporters during a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 22, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A leading national security adviser to Donald Trump told Reuters on Tuesday that he would push for changes to NATO if the former president returns to power that could result in some member nations losing protection against an outside attack.

Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general and onetime chief of staff of the former president's National Security Council, said in an interview that if a member of the 31-country alliance failed to spend at least 2% of its gross domestic product on defense, as agreed, he would support removing that nation's Article 5 protections under the North Atlantic Treaty.