Hegseth announces review of US forces in Europe, criticizes NATO allies

Summary US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month review of American forces stationed in Europe at a NATO meeting.

Hegseth criticized European allies for limiting their involvement in the war in Iran and said some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed the US has reduced its contributions to the alliance's force model but sought to downplay the impact.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on the Trump administration’s combative posture towards NATO on Thursday, announcing a six-month review of US forces in Europe and lambasting Washington’s allies for limiting their involvement in the war in Iran.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly towards Europe stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” he said at a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.

The review will “examine America’s force posture and basing in Europe,” he said, as he sought to characterize it as a way to “transform NATO back into a real military alliance that’s focused on hard power and real deterrence.”

“It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colours,” he said.

His comments come at a critical time for Europe, which has been rattled by statements from Trump administration officials about plans to draw down the amount of US forces and hardware stationed in Europe.

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On Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed the US had reduced its contributions to the alliance’s force model – the framework by which the organization organizes its joint forces and war plans – but sought to downplay that impact.

“We have looked at the division of labor in the context of conventional forces and we see that European allies and Canada are ready, willing and able to do more. Based on this, the United States has adjusted its pledges to the NATO force model,” he said, insisting that the US, with its nuclear umbrella, remained “committed” to the alliance.

Hegseth, President Donald Trump and other US administration officials have frequently railed against NATO, accusing Washington’s European allies of freeloading off US military spending.

Last month, the defense secretary abruptly cancelled two US military deployments to the continent and ordered the removal of other personnel, sources told CNN at the time.

The Pentagon announced specifically that it would withdraw roughly 5,000 troops from Germany over the next year. Trump threatened further cuts following a spat with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran as negotiations over a peace agreement dragged out. A future deployment to Germany of a battalion that specializes in firing long-range rockets and missiles was also cancelled.

Meanwhile, European countries, have dramatically increased their own military spending, pledging last year to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense by 2035, more than double the previous 2% target.