Congressional Republicans threaten revolt over Trump-led defence shake-up

Republicans on Capitol Hill are threatening a revolt against a defence shake-up reportedly planned by the Trump administration that could see the US relinquish its command of Nato forces in Europe.

The two top Republicans on the Senate and House of Representatives armed services committees, Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers, signaled their opposition in an extraordinary joint statement warning that the change would “risk undermining American deterrence around the globe”.

The statement – a rare display of congressional Republicans rebelling since Donald Trump’s return to the White House – followed an NBC report that the Pentagon is considering giving up the role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (Saceur), a position held by an American general since the Nato alliance was formed in 1949.

The proposed shake-up could also include folding separate US Europe and Africa military commands into a joint command structure based in Germany and the scrapping of plans to expand American forces in Japan as part of a military buildup in the far east.

Wicker and Rogers said such changes would not be accepted without recourse to Congress, which holds the “power of the purse” under US constitutional norms.

“US combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear,” they said. “Therefore, we are very concerned about reports that claim DoD is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to US forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress.

“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. Such moves risk undermining American deterrence around the globe and detracting from our negotiating positions with America’s adversaries.”

Trump has already floated the idea of refusing to defend any Nato member that is attacked – an obligation enshrined under Nato’s article five – if it is deemed to have fallen short of its defence spending commitments.

The two congressional leaders said they supported Trump’s calls for Nato alliance partners to raise defence spending “to strengthen our alliance partnership” and pointedly added: “We support continuing America’s leadership abroad.”

The Punchbowl news website said the statement reflected Republican defence hawks’ “longstanding frustrations” with the Trump administration. It represents a jarring departure from Republicans’ meek acceptance of White House encroachment on congressional prerogatives over spending in the two months since Trump returned to office, which has seen Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” impose brutal cuts on government.

The plans stem from proposed 8% cuts in the Pentagon budget floated by Pete Hegseth, last month.

Defence experts and retired generals say giving up the Saceur role would signal a wider abandonment of the US leadership role in Nato, which Trump has frequently criticised.

“For the United States to give up the role of supreme allied commander of Nato would be seen in Europe as a significant signal of walking away from the alliance,” retired Adm James Stavridis, who served in the role and as head of European Command from 2009 to 2013, told NBC.

“It would be a political mistake of epic proportion, and once we give it up, they are not going to give it back … This would be seen, correctly, as probably the first step toward leaving the alliance altogether.”

The current Saceur commander, Gen Chris Cavoli, will end his three-year stint this summer. The position has been the preserve of four-star US generals since Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme commander of allied forces in the second world war and a later Republican president, first held it. Other holders have included Alexander Haig, who also served as a White House chief of staff and US secretary of state.