Senior US officials reportedly intervened to halt US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plans to impose a more aggressive troop reduction in Europe last month.According to The Wall Street Journal, Hegseth planned to travel to Brussels to inform NATO military leadership that the US was preparing for further troop reductions, but senior figures such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio were said to have stepped in.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.Sources indicated that Hegseth’s proposed cuts were designed to be more expansive than the previously announced – and subsequently canceled – deployment of an armored brigade to Poland, as well as the prior withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania.The proposal for more radical reductions was rejected after review by senior officials, including Rubio – who also assumed the role of national security advisor following the ouster of Michael Waltz in May 2025.After the internal review, the Pentagon said it would instead conduct a comprehensive assessment of the US military presence in Europe, a process expected to take up to six months.Hegseth, along with his top policy aide, Elbridge Colby, has championed a drastic reduction in deployments to Europe.Their stated objective is to limit US commitments outside of Asia to allocate resources toward countering China in the Indo-Pacific region, an ambition complicated by the war with Iran.Congressional and allied responseHegseth’s pursuit of deeper cuts has generated concern among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the US, as well as among NATO allies.