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Rogers vs. Colby
Rep. Mike D. Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he left the Pentagon suspecting he’d been told a lie after learning the Trump administration planned to remove thousands of soldiers from Romania.
“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Noah Robertson Last fall, one of the top Republicans in Congress left the Pentagon suspecting he’d been told a lie”
In an October meeting with Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, Rogers asked whether any troop reductions were planned, and two weeks later the administration announced it was removing an Army brigade that had fortified NATO’s eastern flank since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Colby denied having misled Rogers, saying military leaders had also recommended removing the brigade and that, at the time of the October meeting, the final order to do so hadn’t been given.
Colby said, "I am very careful about what I say and what I don’t say," and noted that in a formal letter he’d asked Rogers to retract the accusation of dishonesty, which Rogers has not.
Oversight and Defense
The Washington Post reported that in the months since, House and Senate Republicans have conducted more aggressive oversight of Colby than nearly any other Trump appointee, overruled his policies, and blocked the confirmation of two officials nominated to serve as his top deputies.
The Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell defended Colby in a statement, saying the policy chief was in "lockstep" with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Noah Robertson Last fall, one of the top Republicans in Congress left the Pentagon suspecting he’d been told a lie”
The article also said at least two prominent Republicans publicly accused Colby of dishonesty, and that the feud became an open proxy war within the GOP.
Justin Logan, who leads the libertarian Cato Institute’s foreign policy and defense program, said of Trump, "And he changes policy on a dime."
Policy Stakes Ahead
The Washington Post described the undersecretary of defense for policy role as virtually unknown outside Washington, but said it serves as the Pentagon’s chief strategist on issues such as counterterrorism and nuclear deterrence.
“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Noah Robertson Last fall, one of the top Republicans in Congress left the Pentagon suspecting he’d been told a lie”
It reported that Colby came to the job with Pentagon experience and, in an interview, accused both parties of ignoring the limits of America’s power "— say by arming Ukraine while the Pentagon already lacked the weapons it would need for any future war with China."
At Colby’s confirmation hearing in March 2025, GOP senators challenged his views, and the article said Colby assured them he would support the administration even if that meant providing military options against Iran.
The article said Vice President JD Vance appeared at the hearing and told senators Colby would bring "the type of perspective that we so desperately need at the Department of Defense," after some Republicans had reservations about confirming him.
