Although the Pentagon is constantly working on military scenarios of the most diverse kind, until this moment it has not been asked to develop plans for a possible invasion of Greenland or for managing the consequences of such an operation, US officials said on Tuesday, quoted by The New York Times.
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The claims come amid repeated statements by President Donald Trump, who has openly suggested the United States could use military force to take control of Greenland if Denmark refuses to sell the territory. However, the Pentagon has not received any official directive to this effect.
Asked at a White House press conference Tuesday how far he was willing to go to get Greenland, Trump cryptically replied, “You'll find out.” Earlier, the US leader had stated that he intended to take over the island “whether they like it or not” and warned that “if we don't do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way”.
For his part, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested on Sunday, in an interview with NBC, that resorting to military force is not out of the question if negotiations with Denmark fail.
It was not asked to prepare a Greenland invasion plan or a post-conflict management plan
Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, emphasized that while the US military is constantly analyzing various crisis scenarios, it has not been asked to prepare a Greenland invasion plan or a post-conflict management plan.
From a military point of view, a takeover of Greenland would not be difficult, analysts say. The island has a population of about 56,000, an area nearly three times the size of Texas, and is already home to a US military base on its northern tip — up from 17 during World War II.
Behind closed doors, however, senior Pentagon officials and military commanders are expressing concern and frustration that the president continues to publicly wave the option of military force. Greenland is Danish territory, and Denmark is a trusted NATO ally whose troops have fought and died alongside American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. An attack on Greenland would be tantamount to an attack on a NATO member state, jeopardizing the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the end of World War II.
Tensions escalated last week when several European states sent military personnel to Greenland for joint exercises in a show of solidarity with Denmark. The move reportedly angered Trump, who later threatened those countries with trade tariffs if they did not drop their opposition to the US takeover of Greenland.
In this context, several current and former American officials warn that a hypothesis considered unthinkable until recently — that of the United States attacking a NATO ally — risks becoming a reality with devastating effects on transatlantic relations.
“Even the simple threat of taking Greenland raises deep problems for the transatlantic relationship and for the future of NATO,” warned former US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder.
