In a statement submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 22, Colby detailed how the department is implementing the 2026 National Defense Strategy. His account ties changes in American deployments to a broader effort to make alliances capable of handling simultaneous conflicts in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.
The strategy gives priority to defending the U.S. homeland and maintaining a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Colby argued that stronger allied forces would help sustain deterrence across regions while preserving the president’s ability to order operations against other threats.
Europe force review follows brigade reduction
The reduction in brigade combat teams assigned or allocated to U.S. European Command brings the allocation back to its 2021 level, according to the statement. A formal six-month review will assess whether the remaining U.S. forces and basing arrangements support President Donald Trump’s objectives for Europe.
The review draws heavily on analysis led by U.S. European Command and includes consultations with Congress, other administration agencies, NATO and allied governments. Colby did not identify further deployment changes or specify the recommendations the review would produce.
Washington is also exploring opportunities for permanent basing of U.S. forces in Poland. Colby placed those discussions alongside bilateral work on military strategy, planning and defense-industrial cooperation, without announcing a basing agreement.
The department is pursuing closer cooperation with selected allies through the Bergen Group format and using NATO’s established planning processes to translate greater European responsibility into military commitments. Colby said allied governments had generally responded constructively to the force review, including by providing substantive answers to questionnaires sent to their capitals.
Washington seeks European leadership in NATO and Ukraine support
The department’s proposed “NATO 3.0” transition would put European allies in the lead for the continent’s conventional defense. Colby said the change was needed to ensure Europe remained defensible even when the United States faced competing military demands elsewhere.
He cited Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s call for “transforming NATO back into a real military alliance that’s focused on hard power and real deterrence, a NATO 3.0 modeled on the NATO 1.0 that won the Cold War, with our allies actually taking the lead in Europe’s conventional defense.” The statement presents greater European responsibility as a central requirement of American strategy.
According to Colby, allies increased their contributions to the NATO Force Model following adjustments to the U.S. contribution. They also supported using the NATO Defense Planning Process to address simultaneous threats and keeping deterrence by denial at the center of alliance planning.
Germany has taken credible steps toward meeting its Hague Summit commitments before the 2035 deadline, Colby said. He also pointed to allied purchases of U.S.-produced Tomahawk and Barracuda missiles and agreements covering production and sustainment.
The same division of responsibilities is shaping support for Ukraine, with allies covering the costs of U.S.-provided assistance through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List mechanism. European governments are also increasing their own military support, according to the statement.
Colby argued that European leadership in supporting Ukraine was consistent with its ability to defend itself effectively. He said Ukrainian forces had held the front line, denied further Russian advances and continued defending against aerial attacks.
Iran operations reinforce focus on regional defense
In the Middle East, Colby defended Operations MIDNIGHT HAMMER and EPIC FURY as consistent with the strategy’s objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He rejected criticism that the National Defense Strategy had failed to anticipate a possible need to use force against Iran.
The statement cited the strategy’s assessment that Iran remained intent on rebuilding its conventional military forces and that its leaders had left open the possibility of pursuing a nuclear weapon. Colby said the department had anticipated a potential requirement for further action and prepared options to degrade Iran’s power-projection capabilities.
That preparation reflected the strategy’s direction to “maintain our ability to take focused, decisive action to defend U.S. interests.” Colby said prioritizing homeland defense and Indo-Pacific deterrence was compatible with preserving the operational flexibility needed for missions elsewhere.
Washington nevertheless expects regional allies and partners to assume primary responsibility for deterring and defending against Iran and its proxies. The approach combines support for Israel’s defense, deeper cooperation with Gulf partners and greater integration between them.
Colby described Israel as a model ally for its capability and resolve to defend itself. He also reported closer cooperation between U.S. forces and Gulf partners, and among regional partners themselves, following EPIC FURY.
During the operation, Gulf partners defended their populations, infrastructure and U.S. personnel against thousands of Iranian aerial attacks, according to the statement. American intelligence-sharing, training and foreign military sales supported those efforts, and the partners continue working with U.S. Central Command to consolidate the gains.
Colby said that experience could form the basis for a new phase of U.S.–Gulf defense cooperation built around greater regional responsibility and integration. The statement also reported the conclusion of the Operation INHERENT RESOLVE mission in Iraq and Syria, with regional partners taking the lead against ISIS remnants.
The United States continued targeting ISIS leadership in Syria, including a strike on June 19, Colby said. It would retain the ability to conduct focused operations in defense of American interests.
China deterrence drives investment in forces and munitions
Colby described the Indo-Pacific objective as a favorable balance of power that prevents any country from dominating the United States or its allies. The department is strengthening military deterrence while expanding contacts with Chinese officials to avoid confrontation.
The operational focus is deterrence by denial along the First Island Chain, supported by forces able to prevent an opponent from securing quick, decisive gains. Colby said global force-management processes were being used to keep the capabilities most needed for that mission ready and available.
Priority investments include undersea forces, long-range and long-endurance air forces, mobile ground-based long-range fires, resilient space systems and counterspace capabilities. The department is also prioritizing special operations and other stand-in forces, naval mines and their delivery systems, and integrated air and missile defenses.
Those capabilities depend on sufficient munitions stocks, logistics able to function under attack and resilient command-and-control systems protected against cyber threats. The fiscal 2027 budget request directs nearly $53 billion toward weapons prioritized by the Munitions Acceleration Council, combining high-end munitions with systems designed for rapid production in large quantities.
Colby said these investments would also preserve the president’s ability to act against threats outside the Pacific. He presented the approach as a means of supporting multiple operational requirements through forces and capabilities developed around the strategy’s principal priorities.
Military preparations are proceeding alongside more frequent engagement with Beijing. Colby reported three conversations between Hegseth and Admiral Dong Jun over the preceding year, an engagement between Admiral Paparo and Eastern Theater Commander Yang Zhibin, and additional senior and working-level contacts.
Asian allies take on greater responsibilities
The department is expanding access, basing and operational arrangements across the Indo-Pacific. Reported milestones include the second phase of transitioning U.S. Forces Japan into an operational headquarters and the first Typhon missile-system live-fire during an exercise along the First Island Chain.
Washington has also signed an agreement increasing access to Australian facilities and is working to operationalize sites covered by its Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the Philippines. Colby said the department was accelerating support for Philippine defense modernization and pursuing closer defense relationships with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
South Korea has adopted a commitment to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on core military capabilities and agreed to lead its conventional defense against North Korea, according to the statement. Colby said Seoul’s efforts to assume wartime operational control over South Korean forces provided an opportunity to encourage substantial improvements in military capability.
Japan has taken initial steps to accelerate its defense buildup, but significantly more remains to be done, he said. Colby also highlighted a new ten-year bilateral defense framework with India and a separate agreement to strengthen undersea cooperation.
Submarine output remains a constraint on AUKUS
Under AUKUS, the department is preparing to establish Submarine Rotational Force-West and begin rotating U.S. Virginia-class submarines to Western Australia in 2027. A May agreement secured more than $5 billion in Australian infrastructure support for the American rotational presence, Colby said.
The statement identifies shipbuilding as the area with the widest gap between strategic requirements and available supply. Virginia-class deliveries have run at roughly 1.1 to 1.2 boats annually since 2022, against a requirement of two for U.S. needs alone and approximately 2.33 including AUKUS obligations.
The two-per-year production rate is not expected until approximately 2032, a delay from earlier goals. The department is pursuing a multibillion-dollar submarine industrial recovery effort involving expanded supplier capacity, advanced manufacturing and strategic outsourcing.
Colby also argued for greater use of allied industrial capacity to strengthen supply and sustain military operations across regions. A September meeting between Hegseth and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius focused on industrial cooperation within the NATO transition, reflecting the department’s view that stronger European and Asian industries could provide additional munitions, components, maintenance and technology for the broader coalition.
Source: U.S. Department of War.
