Top House Republican says Pentagon misled him about troop reduction plans in Europe

House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said he believes the Pentagon’s policy chief misled him about a plan to reduce by thousands the number of U.S. soldiers in Romania.

Rogers accused Elbridge Colby, under secretary of Defense, of not keeping Congress in the loop on force posture changes in Europe after the Alabama congressman met with the Defense official at the Pentagon in October. Rogers told The Washington Post that at the meeting, he asked Colby whether any troop reductions were coming and was told Colby wasn’t aware of any.

Two weeks later, the Trump administration announced it was pulling a U.S. combat brigade from Romania.

“I took him at his word,” Rogers told the Post.

Colby, however, denies he misled Rogers, telling the Post that at the time of the meeting a final order to remove the brigade had not been given and that he was not, then, “in a position to commit the department one way or the other.”

Rogers has sparred with the Pentagon’s policy chief publicly over the brigade in the months since, most recently in March when he accused Colby of sidelining Congress in its decision. He said he had spoken repeatedly with........

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