President Trump has picked the next three military officers to lead U.S. forces in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Pentagon has announced.
Trump is nominating Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich as commander of U.S. European Command (Eucom), Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to lead U.S. Central Command (Centcom) and Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson to head U.S. Africa Command (Africom). The announcements for Cooper and Anderson were made on Wednesday and on Thursday for Grynkewich.
Cooper’s nomination is of note as it marks only the second time that a Navy admiral would be the top U.S. military officer in the Middle East, should he be confirmed. Anderson’s nomination is also historic as he would be the first Air Force general to lead U.S. forces on the African continent.
Grynkewich, an Air Force fighter pilot, has extensive experience as a senior commander in the Middle East and is currently the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If confirmed, he would be become a four-star general and also take over as the supreme allied commander of Europe.
His pick was met by approval from NATO’s North Atlantic Council, which said in a statement Thursday that it approved Grynkewich’s nomination as supreme allied commander.
Europe has become an increasingly scrutinized theater with Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Trump administration’s push to have NATO allies spend more of their own dollars on military defenses. The U.S. is also reportedly eying cutting American forces on the continent to focus more on China and and the U.S.-Mexico border.
Grynkewich, an U.S. Air Force Academy graduate in 1993, is currently a key aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and works on guidance for the U.S. combatant commands.
Prior to that role, he served as commander of Air Forces in the Middle East, working on air operations in support of Israel’s conflicts with surrounding countries, and was also director of operations for Centcom.
Cooper, currently deputy commander of Centcom, has a career serving on ships in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East region, including as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. He would replace the current Centcom head Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, who is set to retire this summer after more than three years in the role.
Cooper would take over at a volatile time in the region, with Israel continuing its war on Hamas in Gaza despite the U.S. push for a ceasefire deal after 20 months of conflict. The Trump administration also is in negotiations with Iran to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program.
A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1989, he has been the deputy at Central Command, since February 2024, playing a key role in Washington’s airstrike campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. Prior to that, Cooper led naval forces in the Middle East for nearly three years, heading the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The job as Centcom head is of particular note as two recent leaders – former Army Gen. Lloyd Austin and former Marine Gen. Jim Mattis – later went on to serve as Pentagon chief.
Anderson, meanwhile, is a pilot who has flown the KC-135 tanker, C-130 transport aircraft and the U-28A surveillance aircraft and currently serves as the director of joint force development on the Joint Staff.
He also headed the task force that coordinated the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Somalia and led Special Operations Command Africa from 2019 to 2021, according to the Air Force.