WASHINGTON:
The 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS), released by the Pentagon on Friday, says the US military will prioritize protecting the homeland and deterring China, while providing “more limited” support to allies in Europe and elsewhere.
The 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) marks a significant departure from previous Pentagon policy, both in its emphasis on allies taking on greater burdens with less support from Washington and its softer tone toward traditional enemies China and Russia.
“While U.S. forces focus on defending the homeland and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will assume primary responsibility for their own defense, with critical but more limited support from U.S. forces,” the strategy said.
The previous NDS, released under President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, described China as Washington’s biggest challenge and said Russia posed an “acute threat.”
However, the new document insists on “respectful relations” with Beijing, without mentioning US ally Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, and describes the threat from Russia as a “persistent but manageable” threat affecting NATO’s eastern members.
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Both the Biden and Trump strategies say defending the homeland is important, but their descriptions of the threats the US faces differ significantly.
The Trump administration’s NDS takes aim at the previous administration’s neglect of border security, saying it led to a “flood of illegal aliens” and widespread narcotics trafficking.
“Border security is national security,” and the Pentagon “will therefore prioritize efforts to seal our borders, deter forms of invasion and deport illegal aliens,” the report said.
Biden, meanwhile, focused on China and Russia, saying they posed “more dangerous challenges to security at home” than even the threat of terrorism.
The 2026 NDS also makes no mention of the dangers of climate change – which the Biden administration had identified as an “emerging threat.”
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Like Trump’s National Security Strategy, released last month, the NDS elevates Latin America to the top of the U.S. agenda.
The Pentagon “will reestablish U.S. military dominance in the Western Hemisphere. We will use it to protect our homeland and our access to key areas throughout the region,” the NDS said.
The document is called the ‘Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine’, a reference to the declaration two centuries ago by the then young United States that Latin America was off-limits to rival powers.
Since returning to office last year, Trump has repeatedly deployed the US military in Latin America, ordering a shocking attack that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and attacks on more than 30 suspected drug-smuggling boats that killed more than 100 people.
The Trump administration has provided no definitive evidence that the sunken ships were involved in drug trafficking, and international law experts and human rights groups say the attacks likely amount to extrajudicial killings since they apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.
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