The administration of US President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of giving up the post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) - a position that has been held exclusively by American representatives for nearly 75 years, News.bg reports.
This information was revealed by NBC News, which cited well-informed sources. According to them, US officials are considering terminating the US commitment as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
The issue is being considered as part of a larger plan to restructure the combatant commands and headquarters of the US army, led by the Pentagon. If the US does indeed give up the role of SACEUR, the other NATO members will have to choose which country will send the next supreme commander.
"We will lose a huge amount of influence in NATO, and this will rightly be perceived as probably the first step towards a complete withdrawal from the Alliance," James Stavridis, who was NATO's supreme commander in Europe from 2009 to 2013, told NBC.
In addition, according to the sources of the television channel, five of the eleven combatant commands of the US armed forces could be unified as part of the discussed plan. Among the possible changes is the merger of the European and African commands of the US into a single command with headquarters in Stuttgart (Germany). The closure of the US Southern Command headquarters in Florida, which could be integrated with the Northern Command, is also being considered.
Officials familiar with the matter say that the merger of the commands is intended to reduce costs by streamlining personnel and eliminating duplicate functions.