The Defense Department has been given the green light to order up to 3,000 military reservists to active duty so they can augment U.S. troops that are part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the Pentagon’s military response to Russian operations in Ukraine.
President Biden issued the executive order on Thursday, shortly after a two-day NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he emphasized U.S. support for the Atlantic alliance. The Pentagon’s support requirements in Europe have grown significantly since 2014 when Operation Atlantic Resolve was launched during the Obama administration following Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
The military operation provides regular rotational deployments of combat forces to Europe to highlight U.S. commitment to Europe while building readiness and increasing interoperability between ally and partner nations, Pentagon officials said after the White House order was issued.
“These are not additional forces. These are forces that will augment what we already have there,” said Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director for operations at the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.
The Pentagon has deployed or extended more than 20,000 additional troops to Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis, bringing the total U.S. force structure there to more than 100,000, Defense Department officials said.
Mr. Biden’s executive order also designates Operation Atlantic Resolve as a “contingency operation,” meaning impacted reservists and their families will get the same benefits as active-duty personnel, officials said.
The order will not change the overall force structure in Europe and U.S. European Command will have the ultimate authority over where the recalled reservists may be sent, Defense Department officials said.
“Where we may have had someone from an active-component organization going something, that job now — under these authorities — may be something that a reserve component unit may be able to do,” Lt. Gen. Sims said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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