WASHINGTON: The United States has shifted the focus of its military strategy away from China and towards defending the homeland and the Western Hemisphere, according to a new National Defense Strategy published by the Pentagon on Friday.
The 2026 National Defense Strategy, a quadrennial report last released in 2022, marks a significant departure from the priorities of the previous administration. It places domestic security, border enforcement, and counter-narcotics operations ahead of overseas competition with major powers.
The Defense Department said the United States was not pursuing an isolationist agenda. Still, it argued that the military must prioritise securing the homeland while allies take on greater responsibility for their own defense.
The document says the Pentagon will no longer allow rivals to challenge US control over key terrain in the Western Hemisphere. It states that the military will provide President Donald Trump with “credible options to guarantee US military and commercial access to key terrain from the Arctic to South America,” naming Greenland, the Gulf of America and the Panama Canal as areas of strategic importance.
The strategy explicitly invokes the Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century policy asserting US influence across the Western Hemisphere. “We will ensure that the Monroe Doctrine is upheld in our time,” the document says.
The main focus on the homeland includes a section about the U.S. no longer ceding key terrain in the Western Hemisphere and how the Pentagon will provide President Donald Trump with “credible options to guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain from the Arctic to South America, especially Greenland, the Gulf of America, and the Panama Canal.”
“We will ensure that the Monroe Doctrine is upheld in our time,” it adds, referring to the 19th century foreign policy doctrine that asserts the U.S. sphere of influence extends throughout the Western Hemisphere.
China demoted to second priority
China, described in the 2022 strategy as the United States’ most significant strategic competitor, is now listed as the Pentagon’s second priority. The report cites Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its actions towards US allies as ongoing concerns.
The new report says the U.S. does not seek to “strangle or humiliate” China, but rather should deter the country “through strength, not confrontation.” It says the Pentagon will “provide the military strength for President Trump’s visionary and realistic diplomacy, thereby setting conditions for a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows all of us — the United States, China, and others in the region — to enjoy a decent peace.”
Allies, industry and Russia
The third priority outlined in the strategy is increased burden-sharing by allies, including Canada and Mexico in North America and European partners across the Atlantic. The fourth priority is rebuilding the US defence industrial base to sustain long-term military readiness.
Russia receives comparatively limited attention in the document. It is described as a “persistent but manageable threat” to NATO’s eastern members, with the Pentagon pledging to ensure US forces are prepared to counter any threats to the American homeland.
The report comes as the Trump administration faces challenges in ending the war in Ukraine, despite earlier pledges to bring the conflict to a swift conclusion. It also follows recent developments in Latin America, including US action against Venezuela’s now-deposed president Nicolás Maduro, and renewed debate over Washington’s interest in Greenland.
A political strategy document
Unlike previous National Defense Strategy reports issued under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the 2026 version adopts a distinctly political tone. It sharply criticises earlier governments, including that of President Joe Biden, accusing them of neglecting US interests and wasting military resources on foreign interventions.
The report says President Trump has “decisively changed” US defence policy by placing American interests first, pledging that the military will act as both a deterrent to war and a force ready to fight and win if necessary.
