{"id":22099,"date":"2026-06-18T09:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/22099\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:15:20","slug":"pentagon-chief-lashes-out-at-nato-allies-and-announces-a-review-of-us-forces-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/22099\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon chief lashes out at NATO allies and announces a review of US forces in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS \u2013 U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon review of American forces in Europe whose outcome will depend on how fast the Europeans take responsibility<\/a> for their own security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,\u201d he told his NATO counterparts in Brussels.<\/p>\n

Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe<\/a> to launch attacks on Iran, calling it \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese allies, they put America\u2019s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Taking the microphone at the top of the meeting, Hegseth also railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance<\/a> in February last year that angered many Europeans.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe\u2019s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered. Along with Europe\u2019s belief in itself and its civilization,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

Hegseth’s comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration now wants a reboot of the 32-nation organization to turn it into a \u201cNATO 3.0\u201d capable of deterring any threat, Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

Hegseth’s remarks came a few weeks after the United States told its allies that it would no longer supply certain warships and aircraft if one of them comes under attack. European allies and Canada are trying to work out how to plug the gaps.<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans<\/a> to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should a conflict break out with China in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Under NATO\u2019s collective security guarantee \u2013 Article 5<\/a> of its founding treaty \u2013 the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.<\/p>\n

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5. The U.S. has by far NATO\u2019s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO\u2019s deterrence.<\/p>\n

To underscore that point, NATO\u2019s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after it had assembled at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

In the statement, it \u201crecalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO\u2019s extended deterrence architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministers \u201cagreed to continue enhancing NATO\u2019s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO\u2019s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS \u2013 U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at NATO allies on Thursday, announcing a six-month Pentagon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,381,1616,13624,142],"class_list":["post-22099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-donald-trump","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116770355464657742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}