United States European Command: Overview and Key Issues

Abstract

United States European Command (or EUCOM, pronounced YEW-com) is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, and was established in 1952. Today its area of responsibility comprises 51 countries stretching from Portugals Azores Islands to Iceland and Israel. USEUCOMs commander is currently U.S. Air Force General Tod Wolters, who is simultaneously the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations (NATO) Supreme AlliedCommander, Europe (SACEUR). During the Cold War, the European theater was a primary focus for U.S. defense and national security and EUCOM was focused almost exclusively on deterring, and if necessary defeating, the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War, there were more than 400,000 U.S. troops stationed in Europe. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a withdrawal of the bulk of forward-deployed U.S. troops in the European theater. Decisions to do so were arguably based on a number of strategic assumptions held by successive administrations after the end of the Cold War, including that Europe could be stable, whole, and free; Russia could be a constructive partner in the Euro-Atlantic security architecture; and particularly prior to September 11, 2001, threats posed by terrorism and migration from the MiddleEast/North Africa region were limited. EUCOM subsequently focused its activities on nonwarfighting missions, including building the securitycapacity and capability of former Soviet bloc states, prosecuting crisis management operations in the Balkans, and logistically supporting other combatant commands (by providing, in particular, critical medical evacuation facilities at Landstuhl), including U.S. Central Command(CENTCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). Over the past 25 years, decisions regarding U.S. basing and posture in the European theater have largely reflected these assumptions. The bulk of U.S. forces in Europe have been withdrawn and many bases and outposts were either consolidated or closed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 04, 2020
Accession Number
AD1157646

Entities

People

  • Brendan W. Mcgarry
  • Kathleen J. McInnis

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Cold War
  • Command And Control
  • Congress
  • Crisis Management
  • Europe
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Nato
  • Personnel Management
  • Security
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Africa Command
  • United States Central Command
  • United States European Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.