{"id":9049,"date":"2026-07-28T10:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9049\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:05:07","slug":"pentagon-launches-review-that-could-reshape-us-military-presence-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9049\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon launches review that could reshape US military presence in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"NATO\u2019s<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tNATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks alongside Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander, during a joint press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 12, 2025. The Pentagon this week launched a review of the U.S. military mission in Europe that could lead to a major overhaul of American troop levels on the continent as Washington shifts more of NATO’s defense burden to its allies. (NATO)
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

STUTTGART, Germany \u2014 The Pentagon this week launched its planned review of the U.S. military mission in Europe, a move that could pave the way for a major overhaul as Washington shifts more of NATO\u2019s defense burden to allies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon\u2019s top strategist, announced the start of the review, which he said will be \u201cdesigned to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe taking primary responsibility for its conventional defense.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe outcome of this Review will be an acceleration of NATO\u2019s transition to a stronger, more equitable, and sustainable alliance,\u201d Colby said in a series of posts on X<\/a> late Monday. <\/p>\n

U.S. European Command\u2019s Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who also serves as NATO\u2019s supreme allied commander, will coordinate the effort with top Defense Department officials, Colby added.<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the force posture review<\/a> in June during a meeting of NATO defense ministers. <\/p>\n

He said at the time that allies would be judged on their contributions, with \u201csome countries\u201d failing the assessment and others passing \u201cwith flying colors.\u201d <\/p>\n

The review comes on the heels of President Donald Trump\u2019s criticism of some NATO allies over their denial of support for the U.S. war with Iran. <\/p>\n

According to Hegseth, the Pentagon will consider which countries align with its priorities and provide base access and overflight rights during military operations. <\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s second term, the Pentagon has repeatedly said it wants European allies to take on most of the Continent\u2019s conventional defense while the U.S. maintains its role in NATO\u2019s nuclear deterrent. <\/p>\n

The review, which will take up to six months to complete, will provide a range of options that consider \u201cgeopolitical and military realities,\u201d Colby said.<\/p>\n

The main goal is to restore NATO\u2019s \u201ccharacter as a powerful warfighting organization,\u201d a concept he calls NATO 3.0.<\/p>\n

One factor likely to shape the analysis is the possibility of simultaneous conflicts with China and Russia. Last year, Grynkewich identified 2027 as a potential flashpoint for such a scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need every bit of kit and equipment and munitions that we can in order to beat that,\u201d Grynkewich said.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon hasn\u2019t detailed the extent of any troop cuts in Europe, but reductions could be significant if allies are expected to replace U.S. capabilities on the Continent. <\/p>\n

The U.S. military presence in Europe has already been reduced over the past year. In October, the Army discontinued a rotational brigade mission in Romania. In May, an armored brigade\u2019s deployment to Poland was canceled. <\/p>\n

The Pentagon has also said it will cut 5,000 troops from Germany.\u00a0One unit affected by that decision was a long-range fires team that was expected to deploy to Germany in 2026.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump has directed the Pentagon to send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, a move that has yet to be implemented. To boost numbers there, the U.S. could restart troop rotations or shift forces from Germany to Poland. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks alongside Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander, during a joint press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5207,7,203,1805,5208],"class_list":["post-9049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-europe-troop-presence","tag-nato","tag-pentagon","tag-us-military-europe","tag-us-troop-withdrawals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}