


Two top Republican lawmakers who lead military oversight committees expressed concern on Wednesday over a potential shake-up of the United States’s combatant command structure.
CNN reported on Wednesday that the Pentagon is considering merging European Command and Africa Command into a single combatant command and doing the same for U.S. Northern and Southern Commands.
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The Trump administration is reportedly considering giving up the U.S.-held role of having a four-star U.S. general oversee all NATO military operations in Europe, known as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NBC News reported.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the Senate and House Armed Services Committee chairmen, expressed concerns about both possibilities in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“U.S. combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear. Therefore, we are very concerned about reports that claim DoD is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress,” they said.
“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. As such, 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.”
The Department of Defense declined to comment to the Washington Examiner regarding the possible restructuring.
20,000 CIVILIAN DOD EMPLOYEES ACCEPT VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION, ONE-THIRD OF DESIRED CUTS
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government include the DOD. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the department hopes to reduce the size of the Pentagon’s civilian workforce by 50,000-60,000 people, and the department has also enacted a hiring freeze.
Hegseth said last month that DOD would rely on the Department of Government Efficiency to help it “find fraud, waste, and abuse in the largest discretionary budget in the federal government.”