ASPEN, Colo. — The United States will take over the top NATO intelligence post at the end of the year, alliance officials said, a move that some American officials hope could bolster a critical alliance capacity that President Trump has praised.

But the appointment runs the risk of putting an American stamp on an office whose strength has been in building consensus among North Atlantic Treaty Organization members over controversial intelligence matters. Within the alliance, misgivings about American intelligence still run deep, more than a decade and a half after doubts over the United States assessment about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq bitterly divided Europe and America.

David Cattler, a veteran of the Defense Intelligence Agency who now has a senior position with the director of national intelligence, has been appointed by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to take over the intelligence post, Oana Lungescu, the chief NATO spokeswoman, confirmed.

The intelligence chief post was created in 2016 to better coordinate intelligence about Russia and terrorism threats within the civilian and military staffs of NATO. Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate at the time, seized upon the move as evidence that the alliance was responding to his criticisms, one of the few times during the campaign that he complimented it.