Pentagon gets first NATO ally responses to questionnaire as it weighs Europe troop cuts

The Pentagon is asking NATO allies to assess their commitment to U.S. foreign policy goals and ability to take on a greater role in defending Europe, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed, amid a broader review of U.S. policy toward the region.

Some of the questionnaires used for the assessment had already been returned and officials were looking forward to reviewing the responses, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby told reporters in Brussels after meeting with NATO’s 32 ambassadors Thursday.

“We’re not looking in every context for a complete carte blanche, but we’re saying that we need to be able to have the ability to operate effectively,” Colby said Thursday. “We need predictability.”

The exercise is part of a Europe force posture review that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in June.

Officials in some NATO member states have expressed concerns that the review will result in significant cuts to the roughly 80,000-troop U.S. military presence in Europe and punish allies that denied U.S. access to bases or airspace during the Iran war.

Colby’s visit to Europe this week coincided with CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s unannounced visit to Moscow, where he reportedly warned the Kremlin against escalating tensions with NATO allies.

Before Colby’s meeting, he visited Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the alliance’s military command post near Mons, Belgium.

“He received briefings on how the command is increasing its warfighting readiness and strengthening NATO’s ability to blunt an attack, on the eastern flank and beyond, to inform the U.S. posture review,” SHAPE spokesman Col. Martin L. O’Donnell said Friday.

U.S. European Command referred questions about the visit to the Pentagon. SHAPE said the questionnaire and related documents were not public, also referring questions to the Pentagon, which said they could not be released.

The review represents another step in the U.S. efforts to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance so that European countries and Canada can take on more of the conventional defense role as the U.S. shifts its focus elsewhere, including the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific. Colby has dubbed the transformation NATO 3.0.

“That’s basically what we are now all using, because it was very well-put,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said of the term, speaking at Thursday’s meeting. “It is a stronger Europe and a stronger Canada in a stronger NATO, and it is happening.”

Rutte cited Canada and European members’ $139 billion increase in defense spending in 2025 compared with previous years as evidence that the transformation is underway.

U.S. President Donald Trump has long argued that wealthy European nations have relied too heavily on American troops and dollars for their defense while underinvesting in their own militaries.

The questionnaire, which was sent to NATO allies this month, was meant to let the Pentagon hear from allies directly.

The document asks allies about their support for the NATO 3.0 concept, as well as whether the country is publicly supportive of U.S. foreign policy and whether it imposed restrictions on military use of bases or airspace during the Iran war, the Financial Times reported Friday.

But some allies worry that the review will force NATO members to compete for U.S. troop presence, Politico reported.

One diplomat who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity described the meeting Thursday as a “beauty contest … with everyone highlighting his (or) her country’s implementation of NATO 3.0.”

Another unidentified diplomat described the review as a “scary exercise” and said the survey was an attempt to get allies to “pledge their allegiance to the king.”

Questionnaires were due back Friday, and the top U.S. commander in Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, was slated to present Colby with military recommendations next month, Reuters reported.

Officials are then expected by Nov. 6 to present Hegseth with at least four potential courses of action.

There was “clearly at least some demand signal to have options that would show us (downgrading) our force levels in Europe,” Reuters reported, citing an unidentified Pentagon official.