NBC: Pentagon goes into 'damage control' mode to reassure NATO allies
“One thing you need in this alliance is predictability,” one diplomatic official said.
WASHINGTON — Hours after President Donald Trump departed NATO headquarters Thursday, U.S. military leaders embarked on a full-scale “damage control” operation with calls to their counterparts across Europe to reassure them that America will abide by its defense commitments in the region.
The outreach, directed by the Pentagon leadership, came after Trump threatened to reassess those commitments during a gathering with NATO allies in Brussels, according to multiple current and former diplomatic and military officials familiar with the calls.
The overall message from senior military officials in a series of phone calls to members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been that U.S. military bases in their countries will remain open and American troop levels in the region will not be reduced.
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Update: Pentagon calls on allies for ‘damage control’ after Trump NATO trip: report (The Hill)
WNU Editor: I am skeptical of this NBC report. French President Emmanuel Macron made it very clear after the meeting that President Trump had not threatened to draw down U.S. cooperation levels with NATO .... so why should Pentagon officials need to call NATO member states later? I think what made almost everyone uncomfortable in this summit is that President Trump made it very clear that he wants member states to do more than what they are doing now, and that they cannot state one thing (i.e. Russia is a threat), but do another (make billion dollar energy deals with Russia).
