The commander of United States Army Europe and Africa today made clear he has no reason to believe the service will tweak its European force posture as the United States homes in on a Chinese pacing threat.
“Nobody has said anything to me about it,” Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of USAREUR-AF, told attendees this morning at an Association of the United States Army event.
“I’ve met with all the senior leaders,” he added.
Steve Warren, acting deputy chief of public affairs for the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon today that he backed what the four-star general had said.
Donahue had been replying to a Dutch military associate, who asked what European commanders should focus on as the United States shifts focus toward the Indo-Pacific: Should they support the United States in the Pacific theater, or concentrate on Europe?
“I just don’t think there’s going to be a change, OK?” Donahue said. “Now, we have a deterrence problem in Europe, and everybody’s got to step up and do their part, and that’s the 3.5, 1.5 etcetera, for the 5% there.”
The percentages are a reference to President Trump’s goal of arm-twisting allies into spending 5% of their Gross Domestic Product on defense, which he announced in remarks at the World Economic Forum in January.
And just hours ago, NATO members, meeting today in The Hague, Netherlands, agreed to spend the 5% of GDP on defense, although The New York Times notes tricky language in the communiqué, which says “allies” have agreed, not “all allies.”
The 3.5% refers to spending funds on “core military requirements,” while the 1.5% is shoveled into “defense-related expenditures,” like boosting infrastructure and the industrial base, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Donahue said the percentage of the Army’s fighting force in Europe during World War II sounds similar to what it would likely be today, so “we don’t need to generate drama when there’s no drama, right?”
“Just look at the facts, do what’s right and get to ground deterrence,” he said, adding later: “And be really freaking good at fighting, and you’ll be OK.”
Donahue said that’s he is “violently consistent” in telling every land force commander that.
“By the way, you know, the U.S. military will always, always lead in Europe, in particular the Army, OK,” he said. “That’s just a fact. And I probably shouldn’t have said that last part, so don’t quote me on that.”
“I get a little excited, as you can tell, about that,” he said.
