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House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said he believes the Pentagon’s policy chief misled him about a plan to reduce by thousands the number of U.S. soldiers in Romania.
Rogers accused Elbridge Colby, under secretary of Defense, of not keeping Congress in the loop on force posture changes in Europe after the Alabama congressman met with the Defense official at the Pentagon in October. Rogers told The Washington Post that at the meeting, he asked Colby whether any troop reductions were coming and was told Colby wasn’t aware of any.
Two weeks later, the Trump administration announced it was pulling a U.S. combat brigade from Romania.
“I took him at his word,” Rogers told the Post.
Colby, however, denies he misled Rogers, telling the Post that at the time of the meeting a final order to remove the brigade had not been given and that he was not, then, “in a position to commit the department one way or the other.”
Rogers has sparred with the Pentagon’s policy chief publicly over the brigade in the months since, most recently in March when he accused Colby of sidelining Congress in its decision. He said he had spoken repeatedly with top military officials overseeing U.S. European Command, who had advised keeping the brigade in place.
“The decision, as I understand it, to remove that brigade was made on Oct. 24. Our committee was formally notified on the 27. How can you characterize telling us three days later that that’s consultation with Congress, which you are constitutionally required to do when it comes to force posture decisions?” Rogers asked Colby in a March 5 hearing before his committee.
“It’s clear to me that you decided that pushing your agenda on U.S. force posture without interagency coordination and without regard to the president’s opinion or Congress’s was the way to go,” he added.
Colby has maintained that the decision was coordinated through normal channels within the Defense Department and was reached after they received “best military advice.” He also argued that the Pentagon’s policy office “is one of the leaders in congressional engagement.”
“We see that completely differently,” Rogers responded. “It’s been like pulling teeth trying to get information.”
At the same hearing, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) also lambasted Colby for what he said was a “gross” and “disingenuous” testimony.
“What’s been so difficult, and which is really kind of gross sitting here listening to you, is — the chairman has said he feels like you’re dishonest, right?” Turner said. “You have been so disingenuous every time you answer a question, you feel this need to just continue on in these clarifications that are really very unnecessary. And these clarifications that you give make us all concerned about your commitment to the truth.”
Colby also has been scrutinized over the Pentagon’s decision last July to halt shipments of some air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine, a move that followed a June 2025 review from Colby’s team meant to conserve munitions for a possible conflict with China over Taiwan, current and former officials told the Post.
Asked about the decision, President Trump at the time denied ordering the pause, stating he was unaware of who authorized it and that he hadn’t “thought about it.” The Pentagon reversed course days later and said it would send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine.
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