Trump taps Air Force general to be top NATO commander

President Trump has nominated the top Air Force general in Europe to be NATO’s supreme allied commander and the next head of U.S. European Command, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement that Trump tapped Gen. Tod Wolters, who since 2016 has been overseeing air operations in Europe and Africa as commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa.

{mosads}NATO has agreed to Wolters’s appointment, Shanahan added.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wolters would succeed Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who has held the NATO and U.S. posts since 2016.

He also would take the new position amid the Trump administration’s request for a smaller European Deterrence Initiative fund in its fiscal 2020 budget. The Pentagon’s latest request for the program, meant to reassure allies wary about Russian aggression, is $5.9 billion, down from $6.5 billion this year.

Other challenges on the continent include increased Russian aggression in the Balkans, a possible new U.S. military installation in Poland and requests from Ukraine for more weapons.

Wolters is an Air Force Academy graduate and former F-15 pilot. He was deployed during the first Gulf War and in Iraq and Afghanistan.