Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. European Command and the NATO commander, told House lawmakers Tuesday he recommended the military maintain its current force levels in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cavoli\u2019s comments come amid concerns from Congress that the Pentagon is considering reducing the number of U.S. troops on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said last week that \u201cmid-level\u201d Pentagon leaders were working on what he described as a misguided plan to \u201creduce drastically our military footprint in Europe.\u201d The Defense Department, however, has not made public any proposal to cut force levels there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, panel chairman Rep. Michael Rogers, R-Mich., asked Cavoli for his recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of U.S. troops in Europe increased by about 20,000 under former President Joe Biden in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There have been roughly 100,000 troops there since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my advice to maintain that force posture as it is now,\u201d Cavoli said. \u201cSince we originally surged forces forward in 2022, we have periodically reviewed for structure both the military and policy level, and I have consistently recommended throughout that period to maintain the forces we surged forward, and I would continue to do so now if asked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same day Cavoli suggested keeping forces in Europe, his command announced it was shuffling U.S. forces within Poland, away from a Ukraine support hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military equipment and personnel were moving out of Jasionka, Poland, to other sites in the country, said U.S. Army Europe and Africa, which noted that the decision came after months of planning with NATO allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military aid will continue to flow to Ukraine via Jasionka under the supervision of Polish and NATO leaders, with a smaller U.S. military force at the site, the Army said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter three years at Jasionka this is an opportunity to right-size our footprint and save American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per year,\u201d Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Associated Press contributed to this story.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The commander’s comments come amid concerns from Congress that the Pentagon is considering reducing the number of U.S. troops on the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3496],"class_list":["post-47953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FIPFMY7KOBBVPATX3LCM2R322M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2025\/04\/08\/top-general-recommends-us-maintain-current-troop-levels-in-europe\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n