Something to Hide: The US is Trying to Hush Up a Corruption Scandal in NATO

Agency support and procurement employees may have been mercenarily leaking sensitive information to private defense companies

Another corruption scandal is brewing within NATO. This time, the allegations center on Stacey Cummings, Director General of the Alliance Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). She could not have been unaware of the large-scale embezzlement within her agency and is now obstructing the investigation in every possible way. This is evidenced by her written instructions for employees not to speak to journalists, suggesting she has something to hide and someone to cover for.

According to documents first published by European media outlets (Follow the Money – FTM, La Lettre, Le Soir, Knack), Stacey Cummings was repeatedly criticized in writing by NSPA’s HR and internal audit departments. The internal conflict erupted following revelations of a large-scale corruption scandal within the agency.

In October 2025, FTM and its media partners reported on five corruption investigations related to the NSPA and identified current and former agency employees under investigation. «The bribes were allegedly paid by defense companies bidding for contracts to supply NATO or 32 member states. Recent revelations, revealing internal contradictions and concerns about Cummings’s oversight, raise further questions about the NSPA’s ability to prevent fraud and corruption,» FTM wrote.

«Corruption is a long-standing problem at NSPA, and we understand that addressing it requires more decisive measures than those officially proposed by the CEO,» a senior NSPA official told the publication, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of retaliation. «There’s a perception that the rules don’t apply to the CEO and those in her inner circle,» he added.

«Stacey Cummings, a US citizen who has held several senior positions in the US government, took over the NSPA in September 2021. At the time, the agency, based in the village of Capellen, Luxembourg, was relatively small and largely out of the public eye… Now, as Cummings’s five-year term comes to an end, the NSPA is a completely different structure. This year, the agency is slated to handle procurement contracts worth €9.5 billion—a sum nearly tripled from 2021. But given the gravity of the allegations against Cummings, it’s difficult to attribute the current turmoil at the NSPA, which employs nearly 1,600 people, to normal growing pains,» FTM notes.

A proposal by NSPA Audit Director Gerardo Bellantone to include an audit of the company’s anti-fraud and corruption system in the 2025 audit plan was reportedly «not supported» by Cummings. Furthermore, Kevin Baird, the US representative on the NSPA Supervisory Board, «intervened to block the specific audit, according to another document seen by FTM.»

«Another report into allegations made in February by former NSPA HR chief Genevieve Machin regarding Cummings’s conduct has still not been released… Machin accused her boss of interfering in hiring processes and failing to investigate corruption cases,» the Luxemburg Times writes.

Numerous arrests and raids have been made in a major investigation by Eurojust (the EU’s judicial cooperation agency) in six countries – Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and the United States.

Current and former NSPA officials are accused of abusing their positions to enrich themselves by rigging defense contracts and illegally sharing confidential information with private defense contractors, according to official statements.

Police conducted searches of private homes and offices associated with the suspects. The Luxembourg prosecutor’s office, where NSPA is headquartered, confirmed the seizure of key documents related to allegations of personal enrichment and illegal contract manipulation.

Belgian authorities announced the arrest of two people, and Dutch officials detained three others, including a former civil servant of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, on May 12 at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The official is suspected of accepting bribes in 2023 in exchange for influencing the awarding of military contracts. The EU Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating how procurement contracts, including for drones and ammunition, may have been awarded illegally or improperly.

A key element of the investigation is the allegation that NSPA employees may have passed confidential NATO information to private defense companies in exchange for personal gain. Authorities are also investigating whether the suspects laundered money through illegal transactions related to these operations.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office has confirmed that it is looking into potential irregularities in the way NSPA has awarded contracts to defence companies.

The US State Department is making every effort to conceal the involvement of US citizens in NSPA’s leadership in corrupt deals. The US Department of Justice dropped charges against some former NSPA employees arrested in May, and they were released from custody. Furthermore, a US government official familiar with the NSPA and NATO’s work told the Luxembourg Times that Cummings was «at the forefront of the fight against collusion and fraud within the agency.»

«Washington is defending NATO’s procurement chief amid mounting corruption scandals… The agency is facing a growing number of bribery cases, but its American leader refuses to step up anti-corruption investigations. She receives strong support from Washington. The American judicial system has chosen to turn a blind eye to what appears to be a kickback scheme…,» writes the French newspaper La Lettre.

Instead of supporting the Auditor General’s efforts to clarify the problems undermining the agency, U.S. Army Colonel Kevin M. Baird, the U.S. representative to the NSPA, according to the publication, «rushed to Cummings’ defense. In a letter dated September 17, he notified other member states of the ‘break of silence.’ He used this formal procedure to express his veto on the eve of the reform’s entry into force.»

«In the Atlantic Alliance, where the United States has the final say, this extraordinary statement marked the immediate end of the anti-corruption plan,» La Lettre notes .

Apparently, under pressure from the US, corruption investigations at the NSPA are being curtailed, and their initiators are being vilified.

On February 21, NSPA Director of Human Resources Genevieve Machin told reporters, «There are clear instances of corruption involving significant amounts of money, with the same employees repeatedly named, but investigators were told not to pursue them.» She also stated that for these revelations, she had been «targeted… and subjected to retaliation, including early termination of her contract.» The following day, she was suspended, with Stacey Cummings calling her allegations «baseless.»

According to La Lettre, «the contract of NSPA’s head of audit, Gerardo Bellantone, will not be renewed, repeating the fate of several whistleblowers in recent months.»

«On October 23, a high-level meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Capellen, Luxembourg, devolved into a clash of two views on the fight against corruption. Bellantone, invited to present his report, was sharply criticized by the new French head of human resources, Johann Schimeck, a close ally of Cummings. The latter’s speech drew strong support from the US representative,» the publication writes.

It appears that the answer to the sacramental question: “What do they do in NATO?” should be: “They steal!”