The U.S. is rerouting a team of “specialized” Marines from Europe to the Baltic Sea to bolster NATO-led security efforts, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
About 48 Marines will work with Finnish forces to support Baltic Sentry, a coalition effort launched in Jan. 2025 to protect undersea infrastructure in the region after NATO leadership reported that saboteurs had damaged energy and communication cables.
The department said troops participating in the rotation will use small unmanned aerial systems and littoral sensors to gather data on the security situation for NATO. The Marines, assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, will provide reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, the release said.
“Working side by side with our Finnish allies strengthens our collective readiness, ensuring we can operate seamlessly as a cohesive, lethal team to deter hybrid threats in the Baltic littoral,” Maj. Gen. Daniel Shipley, of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa commander, said in the release. He did not include specific details about the threats.
The release characterized the military efforts of Baltic Sentry as “defensive vigilance activity” to protect “Europe’s critical maritime choke points.”
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.