# Alexus Grynkewich General **Alexus G. Grynkewich** is a U.S. Air Force officer who serves as **NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)** — the alliance's top operational military commander — and concurrently as Commander of U.S. European Command (EUCOM). He assumed command as the **21st SACEUR** in a ceremony at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium on **July 4, 2025**, succeeding Army General Chris Cavoli, who had held the post since 2022. His appointment was advanced under the [[Donald Trump]] administration. Commissioned in 1993, Grynkewich is a career fighter pilot — an instructor pilot, weapons officer, and operational test pilot in the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-22 Raptor — who commanded at the squadron, wing, and Numbered Air Force levels, including as commander of 9th Air Force (Air Forces Central) and Combined Forces Air Component Commander for U.S. Central Command. As SACEUR he runs Allied Command Operations, which plans and executes all NATO military operations. ## Relevance to this KB Grynkewich entered this vault not through politics but through the **2026 [[Dialog Society]] leak**. Hacktivist records verified by *WIRED* surfaced his name in the membership directory of the invite-only, off-the-record network founded in [[Peter Thiel]]'s orbit — placing a sitting NATO Supreme Allied Commander inside the same private forum as a U.S. Treasury Secretary, a sitting U.S. Senator, and a [[Palantir]] co-founder. That overlap is the point of interest: it is a direct, documented connection between the machinery of NATO command and the tech-right's most secretive elite-networking layer, the kind of private, deniable node this KB tracks alongside the more visible defense-tech buildout. See [[Defense Tech as Asset Class]]. ## Public Posture (2026) As SACEUR, Grynkewich has been a prominent voice on the threat environment: - He told lawmakers the **"Russian war economy is in high gear,"** assessing that Russia retains the defense-industrial capacity to sustain high levels of missile and drone production. - He nonetheless judged that Russia is **not currently seeking direct military confrontation with NATO**, citing Moscow's awareness of the alliance's advantages — a posture he maintained even amid discussion of U.S. force reductions in Europe. - On Ukraine he was comparatively bullish, stating that **"Ukraine can defeat Russia,"** describing the front line as relatively stable and Ukrainian forces as resilient and innovative. - He warned of a **2027 window** in which a simultaneous challenge — Russia against Europe and China against Taiwan — could materialize, urging the West to accelerate readiness. - In March 2026 he disclosed that NATO is **rewriting its integrated air-and-missile-defense plans for the first time in decades**. ## See Also - [[Dialog Society]] - [[NATO]] - [[Peter Thiel]] - [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] - [[Defense Tech as Asset Class]]