Us Signals Limited Military Pullback From Europe

American policymakers are telling European leaders not to expect major U.S. troop drawdowns anytime soon, according to seven U.S. and NATO officials, calming widespread fears across the continent's capitals.

European officials have worried President Donald Trump would call home tens of thousands of American soldiers to encourage countries to spend more on their own defense as the Pentagon focuses on the Western Hemisphere. But officials in Washington are now saying that any withdrawal would be limited, government officials from seven different European countries said.

Instead, the U.S. will make targeted changes and small pullbacks of rotational forces, leaving the vast bulk of American combat troops and materiel in place.

“We’ve received mixed signals,” said one NATO military officer, such as small-scale redeployments that won't be replaced, but “this administration has realized that a stable Europe is important for them, and the signals we are receiving are not that there’s going to be a major withdrawal, not now.”

The subject will likely come up during Thursday’s meeting of defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby is attending in place of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — a snub by the U.S. defense chief.

Colby, seen as a hard-liner on Europe and architect of the recent U.S. defense strategy, isn’t expected to unveil new plans. But it will be “quite clear the U.S. expects Europe to step up swiftly and signal that while changes may not be immediate, they are coming," said another NATO official, who like others interviewed, was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment.

There are also legal obstacles to a major drawdown. Under the National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress last year, Washington must keep a minimum presence in Europe of 76,000 troops. The U.S. has around 85,000 soldiers on the continent.

The issue also is expected to shadow many of Colby’s meetings with NATO allies at this week's Munich Security Conference. Unlike last year’s speech by Vice President JD Vance, which pilloried Europe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will deliver an address in Munich this year that one U.S. official said will function as a traditional foreign policy speech. It will express support for the alliance while calling for reform and underscoring the American policy shift to focus on the Western Hemisphere and Asia, the person said.

The U.S. has not yet formally briefed allies on the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top political decision-making body, according to two NATO diplomats.

When it comes to troop deployments, air bases and training ranges operated by the U.S. in Europe, for the most part “things will stay the same,” a second officer from a NATO member state said. Some units may be moved around to different countries in the coming years but officials on the continent largely think European allies will be able to absorb any gradual cutbacks.

But some change are coming. One is a plan to pull around 200 American troops from several European commands. That won’t happen immediately, but the troops serving in those planning and administrative roles won’t be replaced once their individual tours are up, leaving European and Canadian forces to take their place.

The U.S. is also pushing to reshuffle senior commanders of several top NATO command centers, as POLITICO previously reported.

The U.K. will take control of NATO’s Joint Command Center in Norfolk, Virginia, from the U.S. and Italy will assume command of the Joint Command Center in Naples. Both are under the leadership of American officers. In addition, Germany and Poland would assume control of Joint Command in Brunssum, the Netherlands. The center, run by a German general, specializes in multinational forces.

Meanwhile, the U.S. will take over from the U.K. in leading the Allied Maritime Command — which directs NATO maritime forces — headquartered in the U.K.

The decision to transfer command of Naples and Norfolk to Europeans “was made jointly among all allies,” a U.S. defense official said. The transfer is part of the Trump administration’s effort to push “European leadership in European defense,” the person added, freeing up the U.S. to focus efforts in the Western Hemisphere and Pacific.

The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, on Tuesday dismissed the suggestion that the changeover of roles meant Washington was pulling back from the alliance.

“President Trump has specifically stated that we are committed to NATO and that we will continue to show up,” he told reporters. “But … anything that allows our allies to step up and do more, and take on more leadership in the alliance is a good news story."