Speaking in Brussels on June 17, Rutte said Washington had announced reductions in forces and capabilities made available for a NATO crisis. He added the change concerns planning assumptions - the framework that assigns allied military assets for crisis response - rather than a withdrawal of US troops from Europe. The NATO Force Model organizes national forces available at different readiness levels and replaced the NATO Response Force. It provides a pool of deployable troops and capabilities during a crisis. Rutte said European allies and Canada were strengthening contributions. He added that, in an Article 5 contingency in which an attack on one NATO member would be considered an attack on all members, the US would deploy the maximum support it could provide.
