President Donald Trump has fired one of the top U.S. military officers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, adding greater uncertainty over America’s role in the nearly eight-decade alliance.
Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, the U.S. representative to NATO’s military committee, was relieved of her duties, according to two NATO officials and a diplomat from a NATO country, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. They did not say why.
The ouster of such a prominent U.S. officer at NATO adds more tension to Washington’s increasingly shaky relationship with the alliance. The administration’s antagonistic rhetoric against longtime NATO allies — including Vice President JD Vance’s criticisms of European cultural issues, Trump’s continued insistence the U.S. should own Greenland, and huge tariffs slapped on some of America’s closest trading partners — are part of a widening rift in the transatlantic alliance.
Chatfield came to the attention of conservative media in 2023, soon after taking the role. Critics labeled her “woke” for comments she made when starting as president of the Naval War College in 2019.
“I want to see members of this team offer each other respect for differences, for diversity, for the dialogue from which ideas and collaboration emerge,” she said.
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