US troops being cut in Germany

Kato,

Does you infographic take into account US units rotating in for exercises?

COVID 19 hit Defender 20 hard. I know I was supposed to spend April & May in Latvia in support and another of my teams was going to be a DPTA, Poland.
 
Albany Rifles said:
Does you infographic take into account US units rotating in for exercises?.
Click to expand...
The infographic is NATO's official placement map for EFP, i.e. for the four battlegroups agreed upon and supported by NATO and by the host nations, and for those troops that NATO considers an actual forward presence.

Atlantic Resolve, currently with 2nd ABCT, 3rd ID rotated in, is per se not a NATO operation nor coordinated at that level, but just a US operation. Troops under Atlantic Resolve includes the US contributions to EFP and TFP to my knowledge, with additional (battalion-sized) forces rotationally stationed in primarily Germany and Poland. It should be noted that the armored troops among these largely are issued AFP equipment, i.e. the European Activity Set at Coleman, Mannheim, Germany - which is therefore not available for any further increase beyond that.
 
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Just released statement from Secretary of Defense


IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Secretary of Defense Statement on Completion of the U.S.-Poland Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement Negotiations
AUG. 3, 2020
The United States and Poland have completed negotiations on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), building on our existing security cooperation and cementing our long-standing defense partnership.

The EDCA reflects the shared vision outlined in the Joint Declarations signed by Presidents Donald J. Trump and Andrzej Duda in 2019. Specifically, it provides the required legal framework, infrastructure and equitable burden-sharing essential to deepening our defense cooperation.

The EDCA will enable an increased enduring U.S. rotational presence of about 1,000 personnel, to include the forward elements of the U.S. Army’s V Corps headquarters and a Division headquarters, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, and the infrastructure to support an armored brigade combat team and combat aviation brigade. This is in addition to the 4,500 U.S. personnel already on rotation in Poland.

Alongside the recently announced European strategic force posture changes, the EDCA will enhance deterrence against Russia, strengthen NATO, reassure our Allies, and our forward presence in Poland on NATO’s eastern flank will improve our strategic and operational flexibility. We congratulate the negotiators on this important milestone for U.S.-Polish relations and our collective transatlantic security.
 
Phew, they at least managed to avoid the word "permanent" that was previously used (in the US) with regard to the planned agreement - and that would have violated the NATO-Russia Founding Act by some interpretation.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I did find humor in the verbiage "increased enduring U.S. rotational presence."
 
The EDCA agreement is pretty controversial in Poland given that effectively all it changes is one important line from the previous SOFA - namely, that instead of "proof of fact" it is taken as "definitive proof of fact" (as in non-contestable) if the US claims that a soldier committing a crime did so in pursuit of his duties and thus does not fall under Polish jurisdiction. Poles - mostly the opposition - apparently consider this language as reminiscent of SOFA treaties they had with the Soviets until the 80s and thus unacceptable.
 
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