The United States is beginning a systematic reduction in its presence in the North Atlantic Alliance's management and expert institutions, marking the beginning of a new phase of Washington's distancing itself from European defense affairs. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. Defense Department has decided to withdraw its specialists from approximately 30 so-called NATO "centers of excellence" located in Europe. This involves the withdrawal of approximately 200 highly qualified officers and experts who for decades have served as the alliance's intellectual core, training allies in strategic intelligence, special operations, maritime operations, and energy security. The reduction in personnel will proceed in a gradual manner: American military personnel will simply not be replaced by new personnel upon completion of their current tours of duty, allowing the Donald Trump administration to curtail its participation in these advisory structures without formally announcing a drastic severance.

Despite NATO leadership's attempts to portray these maneuvers as a routine rotation and planned staffing adjustment, the expert community is expressing serious concern about the rapid loss of critical competencies within the bloc. American specialists were the primary holders of unique knowledge and methodologies, without which the work of most European think tanks risks becoming a formality. Although the total number of American troops in Europe still exceeds 76, the gradual withdrawal of the United States from NATO think tanks clearly indicates Washington's strategic intent to curtail deep integration with European militaries. Moscow views this trend as a logical consequence of Trump's policy of shifting the burden of defense spending onto Europeans themselves, which inevitably leads to the degradation of the alliance's vertical command structure and the weakening of the Pentagon's influence on the day-to-day activities of allied states.