COPENHAGEN-Military commanders from across NATO selected Germany's top general as their new representative in the alliance's leadership, further lifting Berlin's status among European armed forces as the continent adapts to threats from Russia and increasing tensions with the Trump administration.

German Gen. Carsten Breuer will take over as chair of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's military committee from July, succeeding Italian Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone in the rotating post. The chairman serves as top military adviser to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, helping connect the 32-country alliance's political objectives with its military capabilities and plans. NATO's top military role is held by the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, or Saceur, a position that has always been held by an American since it was first filled by Dwight Eisenhower in 1950.

Breuer prevailed over Canadian Gen. Jennie Carignan, who would have been the first woman to hold the post. Both countries have radically shifted their military postures over recent years. Canada, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, has sharply increased traditionally low military spending to address threats in the Arctic and from China, as well as across the Atlantic in NATO territory.

Germany has boosted military spending even more dramatically, first following Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and more when Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office last year. Outlays have jumped 25% compared with last year and tripled over the last decade, according to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

The country's rearmament has been so dramatic that some neighboring countries are becoming anxious, given Germany's militaristic past and role starting two world wars.

Breuer, whom Pistorius nominated for the NATO post seven months ago-unusually long before the scheduled vote-is an outspoken advocate of the need for Germany, Europe and all of NATO to adapt to painful realities of an increasingly tense geopolitical landscape and, in particular, Russia's hostility toward Ukraine's European allies.

Breuer recently said that Russia has been systematically using drones to probe air defenses in Europe, looking for weaknesses to exploit, amid what he called an intensifying gray-zone campaign aimed at destabilizing the continent's governments and institutions

NATO's 29 European members also face intense pressure from the Trump administration to raise arms spending and take a more active role in alliance leadership, particularly in the continent's nonnuclear defenses.

Pistorius, on a recent visit to the Pentagon, told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that "Germany is strengthening its defense capabilities and acts as a driving force in Europe." He said Europeans "want to take some of the burden off the U.S. and assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence in Europe over time."

The post chairing NATO's military committee, known as CMC, is more of a high-level intermediary with a bully pulpit than battle commander and is held by a non-U.S. figure.

"The CMC has one foot in the political side and one foot in the military side of the alliance. The job entails that you do everything in your power to bring the two worlds together"-ensuring military advice is timely, consensus-based and unfettered, said former CMC spokesperson Eleonora Russell.