Overview
- Bloomberg reported on Friday that a leaked Pentagon questionnaire asks NATO members whether they have been publicly supportive of U.S. foreign policy as part of a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe.
- The form asks which restrictions countries have placed on U.S. use of bases and whether they would be willing to reduce or remove those limits, citing past strikes in the Middle East and a raid in the Western Hemisphere as examples.
- It probes procurement practices by asking if governments steer contracts to American defense firms or have opposed 'made in Europe' rules and whether they would speak out for U.S. suppliers.
- Allies have balked at the linkage of political support to security guarantees and are preparing to press the U.S. at talks in Brussels later this month, even as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte described the broader posture review as reasonable.
- The leak follows announced U.S. troop moves, including a plan to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany and add 5,000 to Poland, and it could reshape NATO cohesion, deterrence planning, and European defense industrial policy.