{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3418", "U.S. Department Of State Responds To Rep. Ed Case's May 13, 2024 Letter To Secretary of State Antony Blinken Regarding Hawaii's Inclusion In North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)", "2024-07-15", "2024", "2024-07", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Ed Case", "C001055", "case.house.gov", "case", "https://case.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27&Page=9", "scraper", "(Honolulu, HI) -- The U.S. Department of State has responded to a May 13, 2024 letter by U.S. Representative Ed Case (Hawai\u2019i-First) to Secretary Antony Blinken regarding Hawaii\u2019s inclusion in mutual defense undertakings of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). (Case\u2019s letter and State\u2019s response are linked below.)\n\nIn his May 13th letter to Secretary Blinken, Rep. Case wrote: \u201cI write to express concern that the North Atlantic Treaty does not explicitly extend its protections to U.S. states, territories and possessions in the Indo-Pacific and to ask for your assistance in confirming that Article 5 would be invoked for any attack on the Indo-Pacific parts of our country to the same extent as an attack on any other part,\u201d\n\nThe often-referenced Article 5 of the treaty generally states that an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all members. This provision is limited by Article 6, which generally limits Article 5 to attacks on territories or forces in North America and Europe and the North Atlantic north of the Tropic of Cancer.\n\n\u201cThis exclusion is a historical anachronism,\u201d Rep. Case argued. \u201cThere is a reasonable level of concern that at least some of our NATO allies might not consider Article 5 invoked if we are attacked in the Indo-Pacific.\u201d\n\nRep. Case asked Secretary Blinken to confirm that Article 5 would be invoked by the U.S. and be honored by our NATO allies if Hawai\u02bbi, Guam or other U.S. Indo-Pacific locations were attacked.\n\nIn his July 15th response on behalf of Secretary Blinken, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, Philip G. Laidlaw, wrote to thank Rep. Case for his letter and further responded:\n\n\u201cFirst and foremost, let me assure you in the words of Secretary Blinken that any attack on the United States or its territories, even if outside of the geographic scope of Article 5, would almost certainly draw Allied reaction, including the consultation procedures under Article 4 of the Treaty,\u201d Laidlaw wrote. \u201cThis includes Hawai\u02bbi, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other U.S. Indo-Pacific locations.\u201d\n\nHowever, Laidlaw clarified that Article 6 of the Treaty does indeed define NATO area as Allied territory in North American and Europe, and islands under Allied jurisdiction in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.\n\n\u201cAn amendment to the Treaty to cover Hawai\u02bbi and/or U.S. territory outside of the North Atlantic area would be unlikely to gain agreement by consensus within the Alliance as the United States is not the only Ally with territory outside this defined Treaty area,\u201d Laidlaw asserted.\n\nThe response also highlighted the participation of the Indo-Pacific Partners (Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea) in the NATO Summit that took place the previous week and acknowledged that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and the security of the Indo-Pacific are increasingly interconnected.\n\n\u201cIt is encouraging to hear that the Department of State believes NATO allies would generally support our country if Hawai\u02bbi was attacked,\u201d Rep. Case said. \u201cWhile I appreciate the Department of State\u2019s response, it is clear more needs to be done on this issue. These assurances are helpful while we continue to pursue possible next steps, including communication directly with NATO and legislative action.\u201d\n\nView Rep. Case\u2019s May 13 letter to Secretary Blinken here and the July 15 response here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:24:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3418"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0011247359216213, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}