British General Nick Perry officially became the first non-American to run NATO Joint Forces Command Norfolk on Thursday. The change comes as Europeans are in the process of taking a larger day to day leadership role inside the alliance.
“What a privilege to take command,” Nick Perry said. “What an honor for the United States to allow NATO's Joint Force Command to be based here, and militarily. I don't think it means anything other than continuity. We'll continue to deter, continue to be vigilant, and continue to show that we're ready to war-fight if necessary.”
Norfolk has the only U.S-based operational command for NATO. The Joint Forces Command has grown from 47 international staffers in 2024 to 514 representatives from the 26 of the 32 NATO countries.
“We have a British officer, an Allied officer, for the first time taking command of this Joint Force Command,” said U.S Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “It's responsible for a number of extremely important things for the alliance, protects the strategic approaches to North America and Europe, it's in charge of our enhanced vigilance activities up in the Arctic, and also in charge of defense of Scandinavia. So a tremendous responsibility.”
Joint Forces NATO Norfolk controls the high north and the Atlantic, including Greenland. This week, the Trump administration signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland. During President Donald Trump’s first year in office, the president threatened to take Greenland by force, which European leaders said would potentially break the NATO alliance.
Gen. Perry said he welcomed the agreement.
“It remains in the Joint Force Command Norfolk's area of responsibility, and we take that responsibility really seriously, and I look forward to working with the commanders of NORAD, Northcom and others to really tie in together for that security of both North America and the Arctic,” he said.
Before the transition, Joint Forces Norfolk had traditionally been run by the head of U.S Second Fleet, which was U.S Vice Adm. Doug Perry. As a part of a more than two-hour long ceremony on board USS Nimitz, Doug Perry retired from the Navy. His deputy took command while his presumed replacement, Rear Admiral Oliver T. "Ollie" Lewis, awaits confirmation by the US Senate.
Hampton Roads is also home to NATO Allied Transformation Command, which looks at the future of warfare and integrating new technology into the transatlantic alliance. The think tank has been run by a French general since it was founded in 2003.
NATO’s other joint forces command in Italy and the Netherlands are also being turned over to Europeans. As part of the restructuring, the United States Allied Maritime Command in the United Kingdom, Allied Land Command in Turkey and Allied Air Command in Germany.
