The US Defence Secretary has hinted that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for a possible future invasion of Greenland. Pete Hegseth appeared before a Congressional hearing on Thursday, where he was grilled about the Trump Administration’s position on the Danish territory.
The US President has repeatedly claimed the islanders want to become part of America and has not ruled out using force to seize the territory. Asked by Democrat Adam Smith, whether it was the Defence Department’s policy to be “prepared to take Greenland and Panama by force if necessary”, Hegseth appeared not to rule out such a scenario.
“Our job at the defence department is to have plans for any particular contingency,” he replied.
“Any contingency, we’ve got. We’ve got a building full of planners, and we’re prepared to give recommendations whenever needed.”
The answer proved somewhat unsatisfactory for the panel of US politicians, prompting Republican representative Mike Turner to look for greater clarity.
He asked Hegseth: “You are not confirming in your testimony today that at the Pentagon, there are plans for invading or taking by force Greenland, correct?
“That is not your testimony today?”
The former Fox News presenter stuck to his line, saying: “All my testimony is that the Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies.”
Trump told NBC in an interview in May that he has not ruled out sending US troops to storm Greenland.
“I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he told the programme Meet the Press.
“No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”
However, a recent poll of Greenlanders found a huge majority were dead against becoming part of America.
Just 6% said they were in favour, while a whopping 85% gave an unequivocal thumbs down to the proposal. 9% remain undecided.
The poll, carried out by Verian for the Berlingske newspaper, also showed that 45% viewed Trump’s interest in their island as a threat.
