Newsletters
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepared a plan for additional reductions in U.S. troop levels in Europe that would have gone beyond existing cuts, but the proposal was shelved after it was shared with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
Hegseth had planned to travel to Brussels last month to deliver the announcement at a meeting with NATO's top military chiefs.
The proposed reductions would have gone beyond the canceled deployment of an armored brigade to Poland and an earlier withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
The proposal was nixed after it was shared with Rubio, who also serves as U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, and other senior officials, the people said.
Hegseth instead announced that the U.S. would conduct a review of its force posture in Europe that could last as long as six months.
Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesman, said, "Secretary Hegseth ensured his message was aligned with the president's objectives and agenda, and he did not want to impede upon the president's decision space."
The incident suggests the administration has not yet settled on the pace and scope of potential cuts in U.S. troop levels in Europe, according to the Journal.
Hegseth and his chief policy aide, Elbridge Colby, have been particularly assertive in trying to shrink the U.S. forces committed to Europe. Colby has been described as a prioritizer who favors limiting U.S. obligations outside Asia to free up resources to counter Beijing.
The Iran war provided Hegseth and Colby a new opportunity to rethink troop commitments, the WSJ reported. Spain declined to make its facilities available for attacks on Iran. After the German chancellor criticized the Trump administration's Iran strategy, Trump in May continued his criticism of Europe and threatened to remove troops from Germany.
The Pentagon's push for troop cuts has alarmed Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers, who have inserted provisions in draft military spending legislation that would bar the Defense Department from reducing troop levels below 76,000 without a risk review by the head of U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a certification by Hegseth.
Those concerns escalated last month when Hegseth's office scheduled a call with lawmakers ahead of the June meeting with NATO defense ministers.
When the call took place, Hegseth said only that he was planning a review, the WSJ reported.
In May, Hegseth abruptly canceled the nine-month rotation of an armored brigade to Poland from Fort Hood, Texas.
The decision drew sharp criticism from Republican and Democratic lawmakers and concerned Polish officials, who told the WSJ they were not consulted. Trump later called Hegseth to ask why he was treating a valued ally so poorly, officials told the Journal in May.
Trump then announced he would send 5,000 additional troops to Poland, though no additional troops have yet been deployed.
Hegseth, in announcing the review at the opening of a twice-yearly gathering of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels, said it would target whether Europe was taking primary responsibility for its own defense.
"Make no mistake about it, this will be a real review," Hegseth said, adding, "It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe."
He had also stated: "We're doubling down on our effort to make NATO what it always was supposed to be, a balanced alliance with Europe in the lead for its own defense."
Trump's defense strategy, issued in January, signaled the U.S. would reduce its military presence in Europe as it focuses more on the western Pacific and the Western Hemisphere.
The strategy said the goal is to give European nations primary responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent.
U.S. troop levels and allied military spending are expected to be a central focus when Trump meets NATO leaders in Ankara next week. NATO officials say they fear tensions with Trump could overshadow the summit. NATO officials are also considering scrapping plans to hold a summit next year in Albania, the Journal reported, citing a Reuters report.
Trump posted Thursday on social media: "The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing."
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
2 min read
1 min read
