Overview
- The New York Times reported Thursday that Vice President J.D. Vance personally phoned combatant commanders in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia to get their unfiltered assessments before the Pentagon consolidated its view.
- Commanders privately told Vance they were alarmed by shrinking munitions, saying one theater fell below 100 Patriot interceptors and that Army Tactical Missile System supplies had been exhausted there.
- Vance folded those raw judgments into private counsel to President Trump and discussed them with senior officials who knew of the calls, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
- The Pentagon pushed back with a spokesman saying Hegseth had facilitated direct access so the president’s team could see all data points, and the Joint Chiefs’ office said there was no gap in military advice to senior leaders.
- The reporting highlights trade-offs for operations and deterrence because moving weapons to the Middle East strains the U.S. ability to respond to threats from China, Russia, or North Korea and could heighten political scrutiny of the administration’s public claims.