Pentagon Posture Review Pivots to Base-Access Guarantees; WSJ Says Hegseth Scrapped a Troop-Cut Plan After Rubio Intervened

The Daily Caller reported August 28, 2026 that the Trump administration's approach to US force posture in Europe keeps swinging — from the May cut of a fourth Army brigade combat team (over 4,000 soldiers) and Trump's abrupt pledge of an additional 5,000 troops to Poland after Karol Nawrocki's election, to the Pentagon's current review of whether US forces have assured access to allied bases and airspace. Citing the Wall Street Journal, the outlet reported Hegseth drafted a further troop-reduction proposal in June but scrapped it shortly before a planned Brussels announcement after Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio and other senior White House officials intervened. At NATO headquarters, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby said Washington is 'not looking in every context for a complete carte blanche' but wants 'predictability' from allies, citing base-access friction during the Iran war operation as evidence current arrangements are unreliable — noting Spain denied use of the Rota and Moron bases and related flight plans for Iran-related operations, while Britain initially declined to support strikes before authorizing 'specific and limited defensive' action in March. MIT's Barry Posen called the access conditions 'self-defeating' if Washington still has real security interests in Europe; Hudson Institute's Luke Coffey noted current US force levels are about 15% of Cold War peak; CSIS's Jonathan Burchell tied the review to the broader 'NATO 3.0' shift of primary conventional-defense responsibility to Europe.