Opinion | A U.S. Troop Exit From Eastern Europe?

It’s a safe bet that most Americans won’t notice if the U.S. pulls an Army brigade out of Romania, but you can bet Vladimir Putin will. Behind a reshuffling of U.S. forces abroad is a larger debate within the Trump Administration about America’s posture in the world, and senior Republicans in Congress are expressing alarm.

The U.S. Army confirmed last week that soldiers from a brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne Division will return to Kentucky “without replacement.” Romania’s defense ministry called the decision “an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration”—that is, the Trump Pentagon. About 1,000 troops will remain in the country, and the U.S. footprint in Romania is a small share of the roughly 85,000 troops on the continent.