The Troops Train to Reassure Europe by Thomas Donnelly and James Cunningham, Wall Street Journal

The Pentagon has confirmed it will send the Army’s Dagger Brigade—the Second Armored Brigade of the First Infantry Division—to Europe this September in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the American military’s response to Russian meddling in Ukraine.

The announcement signals that President Trump has embraced President Obama’s expansion of the U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. That’s good, but unless Mr. Trump delivers on his promise to restore America’s military readiness, the brigade will have a hard time carrying out its mission.

Dagger Brigade has long known the assignment was coming and has trained nonstop to prepare for it. The brigade’s commander, Col. David Gardner, is a lifetime infantryman with a shaved head and an office packed with dumbbells and protein powder. With six tours in the Middle East and another in Kosovo, he does not excite easily. Dagger, he says, is stretched thin.

Col. Gardner first opened Fort Riley’s gates to us late last year. He faces many challenges, which we outline in a just-published study. The biggest of them is people—having enough and having the right kind. In particular, he needs leaders, from the squad and platoon level up through his principal staff.

Turnover is the main problem. With 4% of the brigade’s personnel changing every month, Col. Gardner and his subordinates work tirelessly to keep troops trained and personnel slots filled. He may have enough crews to drive the tanks, but he has given up hope of having a full complement of dismounted infantry…

Read on.

Tillerson Points to Shift in U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities by Felicia Schwartz, Wall Street Journal

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. will pursue national security and economic interests before turning to human rights concerns in its relationships with other countries, signalling a shift in Washington’s global outlook.

Mr. Tillerson’s remarks, to U.S. diplomats and employees at the State Department on Wednesday, amounted to the clearest expression yet of President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy doctrine, in which the U.S. won’t condition its approach to other countries based on “how they treat people,” he said.

“We really have to understand, in each country or each region of the world that we’re dealing with, what are our national security interests, what are our economic prosperity interests, and then, as we can advocate and advance our values, we should,” he said.

In separating U.S. policies from values such as human rights, democracy, press freedom and the treatment of minorities, Mr. Tillerson appeared to outline a departure from priorities pursued during both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Since taking office, Mr. Trump has sought to strengthen ties with leaders who have drawn criticism for their human rights records. He hosted Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi last month at the White House for his first state visit since he took power in 2014 and has invited the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte to Washington.

Human rights groups and some lawmakers have raised concerns about what they’ve described as a U.S. turn away from an emphasis on human rights and basic freedoms…

Read on.