Dan Driscoll, left, the secretary of the Army, and Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the acting Army chief of staff, prepare to testify during a House Armed Services committee hearing on Friday, May 15, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Army’s top officer told frustrated lawmakers Friday that the order to cancel an Army brigade deployment to Poland came within the last two weeks, as equipment was in transit and advance elements of the brigade were already overseas.
Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the acting chief of staff of the Army, said the decision to stop the deployment came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office directed Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, the head of European Command, to reduce troop levels in Europe.
The decision was “relatively recent,” LaNeve said, and came “probably within the last two weeks.”
LaNeve’s testimony to the House Armed Services Committee appeared to contradict the Pentagon’s statement that the move this week to scrap the deployment of 4,000 soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division was “not an unexpected, last-minute decision.”
“I don’t see how that statement can be true,” said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga.
Republicans and Democrats sharply criticized the decision as LaNeve and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll appeared before the committee to testify on the Army’s budget but found themselves repeatedly questioned on the canceled deployment.
“Why? I can’t get an answer to that question,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel. “If there’s some strategy behind it, then you guys ought to know, and you ought to be able to communicate it to us.”
Driscoll did not explain the move but said conversations about force structure are going on “throughout the year, every single year,” and the Army “is always ready to move people and things based off combatant commander and secretary of war preferences.”
“So this is not that unusual,” he said.
But the abruptness of the canceled deployment to Poland, a close NATO ally, caught lawmakers by surprise.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., called the decision “reprehensible” and said the way it was handled had blindsided Poland, sent a “terrible message” to Russia and allies and defied Congress, which last year put limits on how much the Pentagon can unilaterally reduce troop levels in Europe.
“I think this committee, under the chairman and ranking member, we’ve got to hold the secretary accountable for this decision,” Bacon said. “It’s wrong.”
The chairman of the committee, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama, said the panel is going to mandate that the Pentagon follow the statutory minimums on force posture and will “remedy them and impose pain” if they are not complied with.
“We don’t know what’s going on here,” he said. “But I can just tell you we’re not happy with what’s being talked about, particularly since there’s been no statutory consultation with us.“
The decision follows a Pentagon announcement this month that about 5,000 American troops will be withdrawn from Germany over the next six to 12 months. President Donald Trump has said the cuts will go “a lot further than 5,000” and threatened to also pull troops from Italy and Spain.
