Pentagon pushes to partake in EU military mobility planning March 2 Military personnel unload M1 Abrams Fighting tanks, as U.S. military equipment arrives to the Port of Bremerhaven, Germany, for the Defender 2020 international military exercises in February 2020. (Patrik Stollarz/AFP via Getty Images) COLOGNE, Germany – U.S. defense officials want to be admitted to an internal European Union project aimed at easing the flow of military forces across the continent. The request aims to cement an American role in tackling a key problem here, which officials from both sides of the Atlantic have traditionally worked through NATO: cutting through the red tape of cross-border logistics and putting in place transportation infrastructure capable of shipping a sizable fighting force to points east.