Pentagon weighs pulling nearly a third of US forces from Europe

The Pentagon is weighing a plan to withdraw planes, ships, weapons and more than 25,000 US troops from Europe, according to seven current and former US and Western officials, despite warnings from NATO allies about a growing threat from Russia.

The proposal would cut deep into a force the Pentagon puts at roughly 100,000, of which about 65,000 are permanently stationed and the rest rotational. The Defense Manpower Data Center counted 68,064 active-duty personnel permanently based in Europe as of December 2025, spread across 31 permanent bases and 19 additional sites in more than a dozen NATO countries.