Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby called for the United Kingdom to increase its military strength a day after British Defense Secretary John Healey resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.
Colby weighed in on his resignation on Friday morning, saying on social media, “The United Kingdom has an extraordinarily proud military history. It commands our respect. There is again a great need for more British military strength in this critical time. We urge the UK to meet that need with urgency, scale, and determination.”
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He also referenced his speech at the international ceremony commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the World War II Allied Invasion at Normandy, where he highlighted the U.K. and Canadian forces’ “courage, tenacity, dedication, daring, and loyalty” at Langrune-sur-Mer “that won them the lasting admiration and gratitude of the whole world.”
Healey resigned on Thursday, citing the government’s recent defense industrial plan, which he argued in his resignation letter did not “commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
“You DIP financial settlement — which I was first given in full on Monday afternoon this week — falls well short of what is required for defense and the country at this dangerous time,” he wrote, later adding, “Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.”
President Donald Trump and the Pentagon under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have repeatedly called on European allies to take on a larger share of their own defense and reduce their reliance on the United States military.
The administration has pushed European countries to increase defense spending and got NATO to raise the minimum spending requirement last year. The Pentagon is currently reducing its troop presence on the continent.
Alexander Velez-Green, Colby’s chief of staff and senior counselor, notified allies about impending reductions during a meeting of Defense policy officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels on May 22.
UK DEFENSE SECRETARY JOHN HEALEY RESIGNS OVER CONCERNS FUNDING PITFALLS MAKE COUNTRY ‘LESS SAFE’
“There has been an unhealthy co-dependence in the NATO Force Model on U.S. forces,” U.S. European Command Commander Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich said in a statement last week. “President Trump, Secretary Hegseth and others have been clear that this needs to change, and it will change. The potential reality of simultaneous conflict in multiple theaters demands it.”
The U.S. intends to reduce the number of F-16 and F-15E fighter jets from about 150 to 100, reduce the number of maritime reconnaissance aircraft from 26 to 15, cut all eight aerial refueling tanker jets previously available in Europe, and reallocate a missile-launching submarine and an aircraft carrier, along with several warships and jets that join the carrier’s mission, according to the New York Times.
