The head of US intelligence and ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, has said that Berlin is not honoring its commitments to its allies. Russian and Chinese aggression are not just relics of the past, he said.
In an op-ed for German daily Die Welt published on Thursday, Grenell specifically criticized the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior coalition partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), for their support of nuclear disarmament.
Grenell warned that just because the Cold War is over, it does not mean European security is not threatened.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's deployment of new nuclear missiles on the periphery of Europe, and new capabilities of China, North Korea and other countries make it clear that the threat is all too present," Grenell wrote.
"The political leadership in Germany, especially that of the SPD, must make it clear that the government is keeping these promises."
'Assume responsibility'
Grenell said that the US, including President Trump, support nuclear disarmament but see the possession of atomic weapons as a necessary deterrent to Russia and North Korea. However, the past year, not only have the US taxpayers had to pay $5.9 billion more than the previous year for the country's nuclear arsenal, the president also walked away from the country's 32-year disarmament treaty with Russia, and vowed to upgrade the US' stockpile of weapons being housed in Germany.
In his op-ed, the ambassador argued that for other NATO members in the east, keeping Russia at bay was a more real threat, and it was the duty of bigger allies like the US and Germany to protect them.
"An honest assessment of the dangers we face is critical to our partnership. Our allies in Poland and the Baltic states know that these threats are not remnants of a Cold War; no ally can ignore this fact."
He then questioned whether Germany would "assume its responsibility or sit back and reap the economic fruits of security that other allies guarantee."
SPD calls for US nukes to be removed
Two weeks ago, Rolf Mützenich, the leader of the SPD in parliament, called for the government to force the US military to remove its nuclear weapons from German territory. The US is allowed to station atomic weapons in Germany as part of a deal in which Washington provides necessary support for Germany's military. Due to Germany's history, defense spending is traditionally politically unpopular.
Mützenich's comment came after Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she would approve a deal with the US for new fighter jets to replace Germany's outdated aircraft.
Grenell has routinely earned the ire of officials and the public for what is seen as his interference in German politics and stepping outside the proper role of an ambassador. He was recently elevated to being acting Director of National Intelligence, bringing him even closer into Trump's inner circle.
Technologies that revolutionized warfare
Artificial intelligence (AI) experts have warned about the dangerous "revolution" that would occur if lethal autonomous weapons were developed. But what are some of the other inventions that revolutionized warfare?
Image: Getty Images/E. Gooch/Hulton Archive
Artificial Intelligence: 'Third revolution in warfare'
More than 100 AI experts have written to the UN asking them to ban lethal autonomous weapons — those that use AI to act independently. No so-called "killer robots" currently exist, but advances in artificial intelligence have made them a real possibility. Experts said these weapons could be "the third revolution in warfare," after gunpowder and nuclear arms.
Image: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Gunpowder
The "first revolution in warfare" was invented by the Chinese, who started using the explosive black substance between the 10th and 12th centuries to propel projectiles in simple guns. It gradually spread to the Middle East and Europe in the following two centuries. Once perfected, firearms using gunpowder proved to be far more lethal than the traditional bow and arrow.
Image: Getty Images/E. Gooch/Hulton Archive
Artillery
The invention of gunpowder also introduced artillery pieces to the battlefield. Armies started using basic cannons in the 16th century to fire heavy metal balls at opposing infantrymen and breach defensive walls around cities and fortresses. Far more destructive field guns were invented in the 19th century and went on to wreak havoc in the battlefields of World War I.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Machine guns
Guns that fire multiple rounds in rapid succession were invented in the late 19th century and immediately transformed the battlefield. Machine guns, as they came to be known, allowed soldiers to mow down the enemy from a protected position. The weapon's grisly effectiveness became all too clear in WWI as both sides used machine guns to wipe out soldiers charging across no man's land.
Image: Imperial War Museums
Warplanes
Military thinkers did not ignore the invention of the first airplane in 1903. Six years later, the US military bought the first unarmed military aircraft, the 1909 Wright Military Flyer. Inventors experimented with more advanced fighter and bomber aircraft in the following years. Both became standard features in many of the national air forces established by the end of WWI.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb/U.S. Airforce
Mechanization
Armies had traditionally used soldiers and horses to fight and transport military equipment. But around WWI, they started using more machines such as tanks and armored vehicles. Faster and more destructive armies were the result. Nazi Germany put this new form of "mechanized warfare" to destructive effect in WWII using an attack strategy known as "Blitzkrieg" ("lightning war").
Image: ullstein bild - SV-Bilderdienst
Missiles
Although artillery was effective, it had a relatively limited range. The missile's invention in WWII suddenly allowed an army to strike a target hundreds of kilometers away. The first missile — the German V-2 — was relatively primitive, but it laid the foundation for the development of guided cruise missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Jet engine
Jet aircraft first saw action alongside traditional propeller airplanes at the end of WWII. Jet engines dramatically increased an aircraft's speed, allowing it to reach a target quicker and making it far harder for an adversary to shoot it down. After WWII, military reconnaissance planes were developed that could fly higher than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) and faster than the speed of sound.
Image: picture-alliance
Nuclear weapons
The "second revolution in warfare" announced its horrific arrival on August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the first nuclear bomb — "Little Boy" — on the city of Hiroshima in Japan, killing between 60,000 and 80,000 people instantly. In the Cold War that followed, the US and Soviet Union developed thousands of even more destructive warheads that raised the specter of a devastating nuclear war.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Digitization
Recent decades have witnessed the ever more prevalent use of computers to conduct war. The devices made military communication quicker and easier and radically improved the precision and efficiency of many weapons. Armed forces have recently focused on developing cyber warfare capabilities to defend national infrastructure and attack foreign adversaries in cyberspace.
