A Pentagon delegation led by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey toured Eastern Europe to pump up those NATO members deemed by the Trump administration to be “good allies.” A Nov. 3 Pentagon statement reported that Colby and Duffey were in Krakow, Poland, that day for a meeting with “the Bergen Group, a select group of NATO allies that are rapidly and fully meeting their Hague Commitments, are serious about deterrence and defense, and have the scale to contribute.” The meeting was also attended by officials from Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

In the background of Colby’s trip is the European Force Posture Review that he is leading, which envisions a NATO 3.0 in which European members provide most of NATO’s conventional forces while the U.S. acts as a strategic backstop. One result so far is a lot of jockeying among some countries in eastern Europe for U.S. troops on their territory, particularly by Poland and Romania.