US Senators lash out after quiet decisions to pause military aid to Kyiv and pull a US brigade from Romania baffle NATO’s eastern flank.

Nov. 5, 2025

WASHINGTON DC – Austin Dahmer, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon’s top strategy post, broke with the administration’s usual script Tuesday, conceding under oath what officials have long avoided: that Russia poses a security threat to the US.

For months, Trump’s second administration has oscillated between gestures of rapprochement toward Moscow and bursts of hard-line rhetoric.

Dahmer’s admission came as the Pentagon faces bipartisan fury over a series of opaque decisions – from quietly pausing aid to Ukraine to withdrawing a US brigade from Romania, a move that startled allies along NATO’s eastern flank.

What began as a routine confirmation hearing for a mid-level Pentagon role quickly morphed into a broader airing of grievances against a defense bureaucracy senators say has become both politicized and adrift.

“Pigpen” policy shop

For over two hours, members of the Senate Committee from both parties unloaded on what they described as a chaotic and uncommunicative Pentagon policy operation led by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby – a onetime strategist turned lightning rod.

“Man, I can’t even get a response,” fumed Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), adding, “And we’re on your team!”

Sullivan, who has built a reputation as a defense hawk closely aligned with Trump on deterring China and supporting allies, said Colby’s shop had become “the hardest to reach in the entire administration.”

Others went further: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) derided the office as “a Pigpen-like mess,” while Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the committee’s top Democrat, accused Dahmer of “cloaking testimony in a veil of ignorance.”

The frustration reflects a deeper breakdown between the Pentagon’s political appointees and their constitutionally mandated overseers.

Since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth imposed new restrictions on staff communication with Congress – requiring all interactions to run through the department’s legislative affairs office – lawmakers say even basic oversight has ground to a halt.

Ukraine, Romania, and a fraying front line

The sharpest flashpoints involve Europe, where several senators accused Colby’s office of acting at cross-purposes with both the White House and NATO.

At the top of the list: a Pentagon decision last week to pull a rotational Army brigade from Romania – first reported by Kyiv Post on October 28. The move blindsided lawmakers – and, reportedly, Romanian officials – just weeks after Trump had publicly pledged to maintain US troop levels on the continent.

“This decision did not appear to reflect the policy mandate of President Trump,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the Committee’s chair, said.

“Just two weeks ago, the [US] president had said troops would not be withdrawn from Europe. It’s unclear to me how this fits with the commander-in-chief’s direction,” he emphasized.

Dahmer, who has been serving as the deputy assistant secretary for strategy and force development, insisted that Romania and NATO “were notified,” though he could not name which officials were briefed or when. That admission drew audible scoffs in the room.

Behind the Romania episode looms a broader anxiety: the administration’s wavering commitment to Ukraine.

In recent months, the Pentagon has twice paused weapons deliveries to Kyiv – decisions Trump later reversed after public backlash and quiet pressure from European capitals.

“We’ve seen the policy office differ from the president’s policy… Is that good for us?” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) asked, echoing concerns that such mixed signals erode US credibility abroad.

For Eastern European allies, the signals are already clear. In Bucharest, where US forces have served as a key deterrent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the withdrawal is seen as a crack in NATO’s front line.

Romanian officials privately warn that any perception of American retrenchment emboldens Moscow – especially as Russian forces push deeper into southern Ukraine and expand cyber and influence operations across the Black Sea region.

Russia’s shadow and the Trump doctrine

That context made Dahmer’s acknowledgment of Russia as a continuing threat all the more striking. Within Trump’s national security circle, views on Moscow remain fractured.

The president himself has alternated between boasting of “great relations” with Vladimir Putin and privately urging aides to “get tougher” on Russian aggression.

Inside the Pentagon, officials say the internal confusion is acute. The reorganization of the Department’s policy office – described by defense officials as a “cosmetic” name change—has, in practice, shifted key portfolios away from the strategy shop Dahmer is set to lead.

Among the changes: oversight of the AUKUS security pact with Australia and the UK has been moved out of his lane entirely, sparking questions about who actually sets the Pentagon’s global strategy.

For Congress, the rebrand looks less like streamlining and more like obfuscation.

“Reviewing roles isn’t unusual,” Reed said. “But when the department conducts such a reorganization, it normally sends us a summary before we proceed with the nomination. That did not happen.”

The Trump administration insists the shakeup better aligns the Pentagon with “the president’s priorities.” But the result, according to several lawmakers and former officials, is a strategic drift that leaves the US struggling to project coherence abroad.

Clash over oversight

Lawmakers’ broader grievance is procedural – and constitutional. Since January, the Pentagon’s legislative affairs staff has acted as gatekeeper for all communications with Capitol Hill.

Senators say the result is paralysis. “We see no sense of urgency to connect with Congress,” said Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) “We’re the Article I branch, and yet we’re being treated like a nuisance,” she added.

Even some Republicans sympathetic to Trump say the dysfunction undermines US defense posture at a time of escalating threats – from Russia’s deepening partnership with Iran to China’s stepped-up naval exercises near Taiwan.

Europe watches – and waits

For European allies, especially those along NATO’s eastern flank, the Washington drama is more than Beltway theater. Romania, Poland, and the Baltic states see the Pentagon’s mixed signals as potential warning signs of American retrenchment.

“Every time Washington hesitates, Moscow tests the line,” said one European diplomat, speaking anonymously to discuss sensitive internal assessments. “If the US pulls back even slightly, Russia fills the space immediately.”

Trump administration officials insist the US remains committed to NATO deterrence, even as they push allies to “do more.” But the pattern of reversals – first pausing, then restoring Ukraine aid; announcing, then walking back troop movements – has shaken confidence in Washington’s staying power.

The bigger picture

The Dahmer confirmation hearing revealed more than bureaucratic missteps. It exposed the uneasy intersection of Trump’s America First rhetoric, congressional oversight fatigue, and a Pentagon struggling to define strategy in real time.

Beneath the sparring lies a more fundamental question: what does American deterrence look like in a world where Russia is again labeled a threat – but the machinery of government seems unable to act on that premise with consistency or clarity?

For now, Congress remains unconvinced.

“Mr. Dahmer,” Reed said bluntly, “you’ve indicated to us that you won’t cooperate. That does not bode well for your future role in the Department of Defense.”

In the halls outside, aides huddled over briefing papers that had arrived too late to change the hearing’s tone. Inside NATO capitals, diplomats watched the feed with growing unease.

The US may still call Russia a threat. But as one European official put it: “A threat means little if Washington can’t get its own story straight.”

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/63644