Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 28

Elbridge Colby Seeks GOP Truce After 360 Hill Contacts and 2 Blocked Pentagon Nominees

Updated

Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 28

Elbridge Colby Seeks GOP Truce After 360 Hill Contacts and 2 Blocked Pentagon Nominees

Q: Is the U.S. push for European self-defense a genuine policy or a strategy to prevent a united EU rival?

It is both, but the stronger driver is a real strategic shift: Washington wants Europe to carry more of its own defense so the U.S. can conserve forces and weapons for Asia, especially China. That is the core of Elbridge Colby’s approach. His record and writings show a consistent view that the U.S. cannot indefinitely underwrite Europe, Ukraine, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific at the same time. The troop reductions debate in Romania, the pause in some Ukraine arms flows, and pressure on allies to spend more all fit that burden-shifting logic. The administration has also backed practical changes that push more responsibility onto Europeans, while still expecting NATO to remain intact. But there is also clear evidence that some U.S. strategists are wary of a highly unified Europe becoming an independent power center. Colby has argued that the U.S. is better off if Europe does not become a fully consolidated “superstate,” and some European officials read recent U.S. rhetoric and policy as hostile to EU political unity. That does not mean Washington opposes a stronger Europe militarily; it means many in Washington prefer a stronger Europe inside a U.S.-led alliance, not a separate geopolitical pole. So the push is not simply a plot to block the EU. It is a genuine defense policy shaped by U.S. resource limits and China priorities, but it is also designed to keep Europe’s rearmament compatible with continued American primacy rather than full European strategic independence.

1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jun 28

More than 360 meetings and other contacts with Congress have been approved by Colby’s policy office as he tries to repair ties with Republican lawmakers who have aggressively scrutinized him.
That push followed disputes over a Romania troop withdrawal, a weeks-long lapse in Ukraine aid shipments and efforts to discourage a Taiwan trip by Sen. Roger Wicker, episodes that fueled accusations Colby was evasive or insufficiently supportive of allies.
Two senior Republicans, Mike Rogers and Michael Turner, publicly questioned Colby’s honesty, while Sen. Rick Scott is still blocking the confirmation of Colby deputies Austin Dahmer and Alex Velez-Green.
Colby denies misleading Congress, says he is in lockstep with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and argues his approach seeks more balanced, sustainable alliances rather than isolationism.
The feud has become a proxy fight inside the GOP over Trump’s America First foreign policy, pitting hawks against restraint advocates even as both sides avoid breaking openly with the president.