United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not attend the NATO defense ministers meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 12 in Brussels, according to a statement from a US government official on Thursday. Washington will be represented at the summit by the Pentagon’s third-ranking official, Elbridge Colby, as the same official stated on condition of anonymity. No clarification was given regarding the reasons for Hegseth’s absence.
Donald Trump caused the most serious crisis in Atlantic alliance history since its founding in 1949 this January, threatening to use military means for the US to “acquire” Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark. After insisting for some time that he considered Greenland essential for protecting American “national security,” he eventually withdrew the threat and Washington began negotiations with Copenhagen and Nuuk, which categorically reject any challenge to their national sovereignty.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has begun drafting plans this month to deploy a force tasked with strengthening Arctic security, in order to ease the concerns of President Trump.
