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The Pentagon’s Europe Review Puts Its First Numbers on Paper — 25,000 to 40,000 of the 80,000 U.S. Troops in Europe, Below the Floor Congress Set in Law — and Eight Senate Democrats Tell Rubio That American Ambassadors Have Been "Excluded From Consultations"
September 18, 2026
The Europe Force Posture Review, launched in June 2026 and run out of the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, is due to deliver a final recommendation to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on November 6, 2026. On September 17 and 18, Reuters and NBC News reported the first numbers the review has put on paper: options to withdraw between 25,000 and 40,000 of the roughly 80,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Europe, along with aircraft and ships, with Germany, Italy and Spain among the countries hosting the largest affected deployments. Either figure would take the U.S. presence below the 76,000-troop floor Congress wrote into the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which bars a reduction below that level without a prior security assessment and certification to lawmakers. On September 17, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led seven Senate Democrats in a letter to Marco Rubio — who holds the dual role of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor — objecting that the review is being conducted without meaningful State Department participation, and that U.S. ambassadors in the countries that would be affected have been kept out of it. The senators wrote that the Pentagon had sent allied governments a questionnaire covering diplomatic priorities that properly sit with the State Department. The same week, Trump posted that "major progress" was being made toward a U.S. Army base in Poland — the administration’s answer to the drawdown reporting being that forces are being repositioned toward NATO’s eastern flank rather than pulled off the continent. A final recommendation is not due until November 6, three days after the midterm elections.
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9 Statements
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.
“Even changes that may appear modest from a purely military standpoint can have outsized effects on our bilateral relationships, particularly with Baltic Allies, as Russia continues to intensify its hybrid actions along NATO’s eastern flank. … U.S. Ambassadors and Chiefs of Mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations. … What we are requesting is not a departure from precedent — it is a return to longstanding practice. [We urge you to ensure] the Department of State is fully and meaningfully engaged from this point forward.