GOP Armed Services Chairs Slam Reports Of Drastic Change To Military Command

LOADING ERROR LOADING The Republican chairs of the House and Senate armed services committees have issued a rare joint statement pushing back on reported Trump administration plans to dramatically alter U.S. military command structures worldwide in order to save money. Rep. Mike Rogers and Sen. Roger Wicker responded to an NBC News report published Tuesday that suggested President Donald Trump and Pentagon officials were considering giving up the role of NATO supreme allied commander Europe, which has historically been held by an American, abandoning plans to modernize United States Forces Japan, and restructuring all combatant commands. “We support President Trump’s efforts to ensure our allies and partners increase their contributions to strengthen our alliance structure, and we support continuing America’s leadership abroad,” Rogers and Wicker said. “As such,” they went on, “we will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress.” Both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have asserted that U.S. allies in Europe need to beef up their own defenses, with Trump repeatedly complaining that other NATO members have not met military spending goals set by the alliance.