The D Brief: COCOM noms; Mass 3D-printing in the field; Trump, Xi talk; The future of deception; And a bit more.

New commander nominations for CENTCOM, AFRICOM, and NATO. Deputy chief of Central Command Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper was chosen by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to lead CENTCOM at the conclusion of Gen. Erik Kurilla’s term at the Tampa-based headquarters; and Hegseth nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson to take over for AFRICOM’s Gen. Michael Langley, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. Anderson currently works at the Pentagon’s Joint Staff as director of Joint Force Development. 

Anderson oversaw a shuffling of U.S. troops in Somalia during the end of Trump’s first term. That effort was known as Joint Task Force-Quartz. At the start of his second term, Trump officials have reportedly been deeply conflicted over how to approach Somalia, which for years has been under attack by al-Shabaab extremists. 

For his part, Cooper has been one of the most visible officers involved in recent U.S. naval operations around the Middle East, including the short-lived Operation Rough Rider, which kicked off with Hegseth’s “Signalgate” scandal. Cooper also played leading roles in operations Prosperity Guardian and Poseidon Archer off the coast of Yemen, and he helped stand up the Navy’s “first unmanned and artificial intelligence Task Force,” according to his CENTCOM bio. 

From the region: 

About that NATO nomination: U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich has been tapped by the 32-nation alliance to be its next Supreme Allied Commander of Europe. He’s now serving as director of operations at the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. “Upon completion of national confirmation processes, he will take up his appointment as the successor to General Christopher G. Cavoli, United States Army, at a change of command ceremony at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium, expected in the summer of 2025,” the alliance said in a statement Thursday. 

Hegseth recommended Grynkewich for the U.S. forces in Europe in early May, Defense News reported at the time. Reuters reported last week that Trump conveyed his support for Grynkewich in a private call with NATO chief Mark Rutte. 

For the record: “The position of SACEUR, which oversees all NATO operations in Europe, has been filled by a U.S. general since its creation after World War Two,” the wire service notes. Still, the Trump administration mulled giving up the influential position, NBC News reported in March. 

If confirmed, Grynkewich could wind up overseeing the withdrawal of an estimated 10,000 U.S. forces from eastern Europe, as NBC News reported in April. 

Also: The Pentagon has had no CNO for 104 days and counting. No one has been nominated to fill the unprecedented months-long vacancy atop the U.S. Navy, which began on Feb. 21 when Hegseth fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti without explanation.

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Welcome to this Thursday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Ben Watson with Bradley Peniston. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day in 1976, an A-6 Intruder test-fired a Tomahawk missile. The weapon became the standard offensive weapon of U.S. warships and saw its first combat use in 1991’s Gulf War.

Army brigade mass-3D-prints drones in the field. While training in the Philippines, the Hawaii-based 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division 3D-printed about 100 drones and sourced and purified its own water—all part of learning to better operate in the vast Indo-Pacific. Defense One’s Meghann Myers has more, here.

If NRO buys far less satellite imagery, would that give China a leg up? Some experts say a proposed decrease in sat-image purchases by the National Reconnaissance Office—from $300 million to $200 million—might deprive the U.S. satellite industry of funds it needs to stay ahead of China’s own burgeoning industry. Ultimately, that could reduce the U.S. ability to shape global narratives. Defense One’s Patrick Tucker and Audrey Decker have more, here. 

What the Army is learning about FPV drones. In the latest episode of Defense One Radio, the commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade unpacks lessons about first-person-view drones from recent exercises in Lithuania and Tunisia. Listen, here.

Commentary: Ukraine and the future of deception in war. If the U.S. military and its partners cannot master today’s emerging tools, they may fall behind in a critical sphere of warfare, argue Mick Ryan—the retired Australian Army major general behind WarInTheFuture—and Peter W. Singer. Read their oped here, and click through to the full report.

Additional reading: 

Trump 2.0

Developing: Trump spoke by phone with China’s leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, Chinese officials announced. The call was at Trump’s request, according to Xinhua. The call is a first for the two men since the start of Trump’s second term. “Trump and Xi last spoke on Jan. 17, days before Trump was sworn in for a second term, when they discussed trade, fentanyl, TikTok and other subjects,” the Wall Street Journal reports. 

Trump issues new travel ban covering 12 countries. His latest executive order looks like an effort to resurrect the “Muslim travel ban” from his first term, blocking or limiting immigration and travel from at least 12 largely African and Middle Eastern countries, according to the document released Wednesday by the White House. 

The list includes ​​Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. “It was not immediately clear why those countries were selected,” the New York Times reports. 

There are also new partial restrictions in effect for citizens of the following countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. There are, however, certain exemptions for lawful permanent residents of the U.S., dual nationals, as well as diplomats traveling on valid non-immigrant visas, Reuters reports. 

Not included in the bans: Syria, whose citizens rejoiced at the news, according to the Times. 

Trump has also asked Russian ally Serbia and other Balkan states to accept deportees, Bloomberg reported Thursday. 

Context: “Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court let Trump’s administration revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president’s drive to step up deportations,” Reuters notes. 

Related reading:

Lastly: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is visiting the White House today, his first such visit since taking office one month ago. His goals reportedly include encouraging Trump to support Ukraine, “and pushing for new, coordinated economic penalties directed at Moscow, including large new penalties on any countries that buy Russian oil or gas,” according to the New York Times.  

That last request could be difficult since a Republican donor is pressing the White House to consider “working with the Kremlin to supply Russian gas to Europe,” the Times reported separately from Europe on Thursday. That donor is Miami-based investor Stephen P. Lynch, who specializes in distressed assets and spent two decades of his life in Russia. 

He’s interested in buying the Nord Stream 2 undersea pipeline, which became operational in 2021 but never went online because it was attacked after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The pipeline’s estimated value is $11 billion; Lynch said he believes he can line up enough investors to get it for much cheaper than that. However, Merz and his team of aides are reportedly not so keen on repairing the pipeline to get it running anytime soon. 

“When [the Germans] decide that they need gas from Russia, which they will, we’ll be there,” Lynch told the Times. “Eventually the European leadership will change their posture.”

Expert reax: “For Europe, it looks like Trump is still trying to make a separate peace with Putin,” Sergey Vakulenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center told the Times. “Europe is doing all it can to show that they won’t go along with it.” Read on, here. 

Another development for Berlin: The German military wants to add up to 60,000 new troops, “which would put the future strength of the German forces at between 250,000 and 260,000 troops,” Reuters reported Thursday from remarks by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. 

But how it can achieve that goal remains to be seen since Germany “has not yet met a target of 203,000 troops set in 2018, and is currently short-staffed by some 20,000 regular troops,” Reuters writes. Re-introducing conscription and extending contracts are both reportedly under consideration. More, here.

Defense One