BRUSSELS, June 10 -- Andrius Kubilius has spent the past eighteen months as the European Union's first-ever Commissioner for Defence and Space, giving speeches about a continent under siege, pushing a treaty-backed European Defence Union, calling on member states to arm themselves as though American protection were no longer guaranteed. None of that has earned him a seat at the table where Europe's next defining security document is being written.

According to a Politico report published Wednesday, the European Security Strategy expected after the July NATO summit is being drafted not by Kubilius's office, not by the European External Action Service, but by officials drawn directly from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen'...