A top general has been sounding the alarm behind the scenes at the White House, according to the Washington Post, warning President Donald Trump that his war has left U.S. stockpiles so depleted that it could soon put lives at risk on American soil.
The Post’s report was published on Saturday morning, and detailed the efforts by Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, to warn officials in Washington about the dangerous risks emerging as Trump’s Iran war continues to deplete vital resources.
“The top U.S. general in Europe privately warned the Pentagon this week that he lacks sufficient naval forces to continue protecting Israel from incoming ballistic missiles, officials said, illustrating how the ongoing Iran war has imposed constraints on the military,” the report detailed. “Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States ‘homeland’ over that of Israel, said the officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the correspondence.”
One defense official, speaking with the Post anonymously, said that the message was “consistent with past outreach to the Pentagon from the military’s top generals when they see certain risks that require Washington’s consideration.” Such outreach can be expected, they added, “as commanders compete for finite resources and weapons.”
As the Post detailed, the military’s European Command is “central” to the defense aid that the U.S. provides to Israel, given that it is responsible for coordinating all “military operations in the Mediterranean [Sea].”
“U.S. naval destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have been employed as a part of Israel’s defense for many years. The vessels, equipped with powerful radar and armed with an array of missiles, have downed missiles aimed at Israel not only by Iran, but by Houthi militants in Yemen that are equipped by Tehran,” the report explained. “At the same time, [European Command’s] forces must remain ready for any Russian incursion into territory protected by the NATO military alliance. Russia also poses a ballistic missile threat to the United States, with missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.”
Speaking with the Post about the situation, Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said that the warning from Grynkewich underlines how big the scope of Trump’s Iran war problem has become.
“Being on a wartime footing is going to take a toll in terms of readiness and munitions inventory levels,” he explained. “Now the question is: What’s the strategy here?”