Biden, who criticized Trump’s treatment of U.S. allies and promised to renew alliances, was widely expected to reverse the course of his predecessor in Europe. Trump has long criticized members of the NATO alliance for not spending enough in his own defense.
Wolters added that he did not know what the Biden government will decide on the future strengthening of troops in Europe.
“The new government has comfortably declared that we need to conduct a thorough review, from cradle to grave, in all areas,” said Wolters. “And then, after they have permission to do this review, we’ll go back to the drawing board.”
“What I will say that exists right now is that each of these options, which are all on hold, and will all be reexamined,” added Wolters of the plans.
The Trump administration’s plan, launched last summer, reportedly removed 12,000 soldiers from Germany, about a third of the U.S. military footprint in that country. While about half of these troops would return home, the other half would have been sent to other European countries. Pentagon officials at the time said the approach, which included sending more rotating forces in place of troops permanently stationed abroad, would increase deterrence against Russia.
The former government also sought to relocate the headquarters of the US Command in Africa from Stuttgart, Germany, although it did not define a new location.
Pentagon leaders sought to portray the plan as part of an effort to better distribute military forces to compete with Russia, but the plan was seen as an excavation in Germany by Trump, who often criticized NATO’s ally for being “delinquent” in your military spent. Germany is not one of the few NATO countries to meet the alliance’s non-binding target of spending 2% of its gross domestic product on defense by 2024.
The withdrawal plan was deeply unpopular with Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who argued that reducing troops in Germany would encourage Russia. At a public hearing in September, members of the House’s Armed Services Committee chastised the Pentagon for not revealing the plan after officials who testified refused to share specific details.
Lawmakers had already obstructed the withdrawal effort in the annual defense policy legislation, which became law against Trump’s veto in January.
The latest National Defense Authorization Act prevents the Pentagon from reducing US forces in Germany to less than 34,500 until it provides Congress with a detailed analysis of how the measure would affect the security situation in Europe.