It had been expected for some time, though few anticipated it would come this soon. On 18 June, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth officially confirmed that Washington will launch a comprehensive review of its military posture in Europe over the next six months, a move that formalises the gradual reduction of US conventional defence role on the continent while making future commitments increasingly conditional on allied performance.

“This will be a real review,” Hegseth said on the margins of NATO’s Defence ministerial in Brussels. “It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe [...] to ensure our forces are postured for the Unites States’ global needs, and [...] that our access, basing, and overflight are clearly delineated and assured.”

For years, Washington has pushed European allies to take on more responsibility for NATO’s defence, while seeking greater flexibility to deal with challenges outside Europe - especially in the Indo-Pacific. The current administration now aims to turn these long-standing requests into concrete action. According to Hegseth, the review will be completed “up to six months - could be less” and will assess the future disposition of US forces, assets, infrastructure access, basing arrangements and operational requirements across Europe.

Although no decisions have yet been announced, the exercise reflects a broader effort to reassess how US military resources are allocated globally and how much responsibility European allies can assume for their own conventional defence. This review is part of Washington’s broader “NATO 3.0” vision, where Europe takes on more of the conventional defence burden and the US pivots to global strategic competition, maintaining the traditional nuclear guarantee for its European allies. It is significant not only for its military implications but also for the political message it conveys. Throughout his remarks, Hegseth repeatedly linked future US commitments to allied behaviour, arguing that NATO’s next phase will require not only greater European responsibility but also greater accountability. “Going forward, our annual NATO dues will be contingent on other countries meeting their defense spending targets,” he said. “Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go down.”

The message was clear: NATO is still key to US strategy, but Washington now expects allies to prove their worth through real investments and operational contributions. Hegseth went further, warning the review would separate those who meet expectations from those who don’t. “Some countries will fail, and others will pass with flying colors,” he said. Meanwhile, the conditional nature of future US support was not the only pointed message directed at allies. During his remarks, Hegseth also referred to recent US operations against Iran, lamenting that “too many of our allies said no” when Washington sought access, basing rights or overflight permissions. Some governments, he added, had even “criticized us publicly for doing what they aren't prepared or able to do themselves.”

While Hegseth stopped short of explicitly linking the review to the Iran crisis, the implication was difficult to ignore: future US commitments may increasingly be assessed not only through defence spending metrics but also through broader strategic alignment. The review also follows Washington’s decision to reduce some of its pledged contributions to the NATO Force Model (NFM), the Alliance’s high-readiness force structure - which is at the heart NATO’s new defence plans, defining the forces allies would be expected to deploy in the event of a major crisis or Article 5 scenario. reinforcing concerns that the US role in Europe is entering a new phase.

Europe stepping up

If Hegseth’s intervention highlighted the pressures driving NATO’s transformation, Secretary General Mark Rutte spent much of the ministerial reassuring allies that the Alliance is already adapting to the new reality. On the NATO Force Model, Rutte argued that allies are already compensating for adjustments in US contributions. “We have already seen that, as the United States has adjusted its pledged contributions, other Allies have stepped up to contribute more,” he said, stressing that in several areas allies have already moved to fill capability requirements, while work continues in others.

Rutte also repeatedly highlighted Europe’s military build-up, pointing to an additional $139 billion in defence spending by European allies and Canada in 2025 alone. “European allies and Canada are really stepping up,” he said, presenting the figure as evidence that the Alliance is adapting to a more demanding security environment. For Rutte, however, money alone is not enough. “Cash is crucial, but you cannot stop a missile or a tank with a dollar or a euro. We need to turn the cash into combat-ready capabilities and fast,” he warned.

Careful not to publicly challenge Washington’s approach, Rutte portrayed the review as part of a broader, long-anticipated adjustment within the Alliance. According to him, NATO is not facing a US withdrawal, but a redistribution of responsibilities that many allies have long known was coming.

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