Ever since the end of World War 2, the United States has had troops stationed all around the world, mostly due to Cold War tensions in various places. To this day the United States maintains thousands of service members in places like Europe and South Korea.
The Trump administration and the Department of War would like to cut back on these deployments, but Congress isn't cooperating.
Congress is moving to limit the Pentagon’s ability to pull forces out of Europe and South Korea, easing concerns among allied governments.
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, finalized by House and Senate negotiators and released Sunday evening, keeps force presence at roughly its current levels in both regions. It states that the U.S. cannot reduce its forces in Europe below 76,000 without submitting an assessment and certifying to Congress that such a move would not harm U.S. or NATO security interests.
The bill places restraints on reductions below 28,500 in South Korea. Any drawdown would require the Pentagon to assure Congress that deterrence against North Korea would not be weakened, confirm that allies were consulted, and provide both a national security justification and an assessment of regional impact.
Doubtless, our South Korean and European allies are concerned, not only about their continual sheltering under the defensive envelope of the United States, but also about the economic activity our forces in those locations generate. Congress is also, however, adding in a requirement to maintain at least one World War 2 era general officer's slot.
The legislation also requires the U.S. to retain the position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), NATO’s top military post, codifying into statute a role traditionally held by an American general.
These limits follow reports that the Pentagon had considered reducing forces in Europe and South Korea and even relinquishing the SACEUR position. Whether those ideas reflected genuine planning or were intended as pressure on allies to invest more in their own defenses, U.S. leaders have recently signaled they are stepping back from such moves even without congressional restrictions.
During a meeting last week with U.S. national security officials and European leaders, American officials told their counterparts that Europe must be prepared to bear the brunt of NATO’s defense responsibilities by 2027, three European officials familiar with the meeting told Fox News Digital.
There are fair arguments on both sides of this issue.
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Europe in particular could very well pick up more of the tab for its own defense, and the NATO nations, we should note, are already doing so. Their worry is as it has been since 1945: Russia. Putin's increasing bellicosity is no doubt causing some furrowed brows among the NATO nations' military planners, and they doubtless see the American deployments as a comfort. The same could be said for South Korea.
On the other hand, this is costing the United States a lot of money, and there are 38 trillion good reasons to be concerned about that. We really can't afford to keep troops stationed all over the world anymore - and we have good use for them here, say, along the southern border.
If Congress votes to retain our forces in these foreign deployments, that's what the Department of War is obliged to do - no matter how much, or how little, sense it makes.
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