“That historic mission of NATO will go forward. I’m confident,” Mike Pence told NBC’s Chuck Todd. | Getty Pence: NATO will remain a check on Russia

NATO will remain a check on Russian power under the Trump administration, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Wednesday.

Pence’s comments come days after President-elect Donald Trump said the post-war alliance was “obsolete.”

“That historic mission of NATO will go forward. I’m confident,” Pence told NBC’s Chuck Todd when pressed on whether the organization will remain a counterweight to Russia.

Pence, though, defended some of Trump’s criticisms of the alliance. Pence said NATO members needed to increase their defense spending and widen their focus to include more aggressive action against terrorism.

“NATO needs to refocus its mission on confronting radical Islamic terrorism, the threat of ISIS, and the threat that that poses to member nations,” Pence said.

Pence noted, as Trump repeatedly has, that the majority of NATO members do not spend the required minimum 2 percent of GDP on defense. The U.S. spends about 3.3 percent of GDP on defense.

Pence also said Russia’s election-hacking showed a lack of respect for the U.S.

“Well, there's no question that they view us as a rival,” Pence said of Russia. “But there's also no question that the actions of Russia, which the president-elect confirmed last week, disseminating information, hacking in the last election, show a fundamental lack of respect for the United States of America.”

The incoming administration’s attitude toward NATO has been muddled. Trump has been quick to level criticism at the alliance, but his choice to lead the Pentagon, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, recently called it “the most successful military alliance certainly in modern world history, probably ever.”

Transition spokesman Sean Spicer sought to clear up the confusion earlier Wednesday, saying what Trump is “clearly talking about is what it does and what it’s able to do,” rather than taking issue with the concept of NATO.

“Much like the U.N., I don’t think the president-elect feels as though it is as productive as it could be,” Spicer said. “And I think there’s a big difference between the existence of the forum and the output of it. And that’s the distinction.”

