Report on United States Deterrence and Defense Posture in the European Region: Report Required

Statutory Text

(a) Report Required.—

(1) In general.—At the same time as the submission of the budget of the President (submitted to Congress pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code) for fiscal years 2027 and 2028, the Commander of the United States European Command shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report containing the independent assessment of the Commander with respect to the activities and resources required, for the first fiscal year beginning after the date of submission of the report and the four following fiscal years, to achieve the following objectives:

(A) The maintenance of the comparative military advantage of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with respect to the Russian Federation, accounting for expanding allied capabilities as alliance members increase defense spending to fulfill commitments made at the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague.

(B) The reduction of the risk of executing contingency plans of the Department of Defense, including contingency plans conducted by United States Central Command and United States Africa Command.

(C) The maintenance of the capability and capacity to defend the homeland forward.

(2) Matters to be included.—The report required by paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) With respect to the achievement of the objectives described in paragraph (1), a description of the intended force structure and posture of assigned and allocated forces in each NATO member country.

(B) An assessment of the capability requirements to achieve such objectives.

(C) An assessment of logistics requirements, including personnel, equipment, supplies, storage, and maintenance needs to achieve such objectives.

(D) An identification of required infrastructure and military construction investments to achieve such objectives.

(E) An assessment of security cooperation authorities, activities, and resources required to achieve such objectives.

(F)

(i) A plan to fully resource United States force posture and capabilities, including—

(I) a detailed assessment of the resources necessary to address the elements described in subparagraphs (A) through (E), including specific cost estimates for recommended investments or projects, and anticipated allied contributions—

(aa) to maintain a posture and presence of the United States Armed Forces that meet the objectives of paragraph (1);

(bb) to maintain the logistics and maintenance capabilities and the pre-positioning of equipment, munitions, fuel, and materiel that meet the objectives of paragraph (1);

(cc) to carry out a program of exercises, training, experimentation, and innovation for the

joint force that meet the objectives of paragraph (1);

(dd) to maintain the infrastructure to ensure the responsiveness and resiliency of the United States Armed Forces within NATO in order to meet the objectives of paragraph (1);

(ee) to build the defense and security capabilities and capacity of allies and partners that meet the objectives of paragraph (1); and

(ff) to modernize the capabilities available to the United States European Command to meet the objectives of paragraph (1); and

(II) a detailed timeline to achieve the intended force structure and posture described in clause (i).

(ii) The specific cost estimates required by clause (i)(I) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, include the following:

(I) With respect to procurement accounts—

(aa) amounts displayed by account, budget activity, line number, line item, and line item title; and

(bb) a description of the requirements for each such amount.

(II) With respect to research, development, test, and evaluation accounts—

(aa) amounts displayed by account, budget activity, line number, program element, and program element title; and

(bb) a description of the requirements for each such amount.

(III) With respect to operation and maintenance accounts—

(aa) amounts displayed by account title, budget activity title, line number, and subactivity group title; and

(bb) a description of the specific manner in which each such amount would be used.

(IV) With respect to military personnel accounts—

(aa) amounts displayed by account, budget activity, budget subactivity, and budget subactivity title; and

(bb) a description of the requirements for each such amount.

(V) With respect to each project under military construction accounts (including unspecified minor military construction and amounts for planning and design), the country, location, project title, and project amount for each fiscal year.

(VI) With respect to any expenditure or proposed appropriation not described in subclauses (I) through (V), a level of detail equivalent to or greater than the level of detail provided in the future-years defense program submitted pursuant to section 221(a) of title 10, United States Code.

(iii) A budget display, prepared with the assistance of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), that compares the independent assessment of the Commander of

the United States European Command with the amounts contained in the budget display for the applicable fiscal year.

(3) Form.—The report required by paragraph (1) may be submitted in classified form, but shall include an unclassified summary.

Verbatim from the enrolled law as published by GovInfo; margin notes and page markers omitted. Pub. L. 119-60 on GovInfo · PDF · text fetched Oct. 17, 2026

How the Date Is Worked Out

1. Enacted Dec. 18, 2025 (Pub. L. 119-60).
2. Deadline runs from an event, not a calendar date: with the President’s budget submission.
3. After the first deadline the duty recurs every 1 year.
4. No date can be set until the triggering event is publicly documented.

Delivery Status

Not publicly verifiable

Public Evidence

• No public document located that shows delivery.

Evidence Searched

• GovInfo Congressionally Mandated Reports collection: 1,209 packages listed; titles searched for Middle East terms; 55 State, Defense, Treasury and executive-office summaries checked for citations to Pub. L. 119-60 (0 found) (Oct. 17, 2026)
• MEF hand review: evidence.json, items with a link and a note on what the document shows (Oct. 17, 2026)

A status of “Reported late by GAO, committee or agency” appears only with a linked GAO, committee or agency statement. Reports sent only to committees, or in classified form, leave no public trace; their absence here is not evidence of a missed deadline.

Review

• Machine-extracted by rule from the public law text; awaiting named human review.