The new National Defense Strategy of the United States (US), released last night by the administration of US President Donald Trump, is the first since 2022 and differs from the previous one, issued under President Joseph Biden.
Some of the differences between these two strategies:
2022: "The United States benefits enormously from a stable, peaceful, and democratic Western Hemisphere that reduces security threats to the homeland. To prevent distant threats from becoming a challenge at home, the Department (of Defense) will continue to work with countries in the region to build capacity and promote security and stability."
"As in all regions, the Ministry will cooperate, striving to understand the security needs of our partners and areas of mutual interest."
2026: "We will actively and fearlessly defend America's interests throughout the Western Hemisphere. We will guarantee the U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico, and Greenland. We will provide President Trump with credible military options to use against narco-terrorists wherever they are."
"We will engage in good faith with our neighbors, from Canada to our partners in Central and South America, but we will ensure that they respect and contribute to defending our shared interests. And where they do not, we will be prepared to take focused, decisive action that concretely advances U.S. interests."
2022: "The Department will maintain its fundamental commitment to NATO's collective security, working together with Allies and partners to deter, defend, and build resilience against further Russian military aggression and acute forms of coercion in the gray zone. As we continue to contribute to NATO's capabilities and readiness – including through improvements to our posture in Europe and our expanded nuclear deterrence commitments – the Department will work with Allies bilaterally and through established NATO processes to better focus NATO's capability development and military modernization to respond to the military threat from Russia."
2026: "Russia will remain a constant but manageable threat to NATO's eastern members for the foreseeable future.
"The European part of NATO surpasses Russia in economic size, population, and, therefore, latent military power.
"At the same time, while Europe remains important, it has a smaller, and increasingly smaller, share of global economic power. It follows that while we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must – and will – prioritize defending the American homeland and deterring China."
"Fortunately, our NATO allies are significantly more powerful than Russia – not even close. Only the German economy surpasses Russia's. At the same time, under President Trump's leadership, NATO allies have committed to increasing defense spending to a new global standard of 5 percent of GDP overall, with 3,5 percent of GDP invested in hard military capabilities. Our NATO allies are therefore in a strong position to assume primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense, with critical but more limited support from the United States. This includes taking a leading role in supporting the defense of Ukraine."
2022: "The National Defense Strategy (NDS) directs the Department to act urgently to maintain and strengthen U.S. deterrence, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the Department's leading challenge."
"The most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security is the PRC's coercive and increasingly aggressive effort to reshape the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences.
"The PRC's increasingly provocative rhetoric and coercive activities towards Taiwan are destabilizing, risk miscalculations, and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait. This is part of a broader pattern of destabilizing and coercive behavior by the PRC that extends across the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and along the Line of Actual Control."
"The ministry will support Taiwan's asymmetric self-defense commensurate with the evolving threat from the PRC and consistent with our one-China policy."
2026: "Should China—or anyone else, for that matter—dominantly dominate this vast and crucial region, it would be able to effectively veto American access to the world's economic center of gravity, with lasting implications for our nation's economic prospects, including our ability to reindustrialize. That is why the NSS (National Security Strategy) directs the Department of War (DoW) to maintain a favorable balance of military power in the Indo-Pacific."
"This is not to dominate, humiliate, or stifle China. On the contrary, our goal is much broader and more reasonable than that: it is simply to ensure that neither China nor anyone else can dominate us or our allies. This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle. Instead, a decent peace is possible, on terms favorable to the Americans, but which China can also accept and live with."
2022: "The Department will continue to deter attacks through forward-looking capabilities; integrated air and missile defense; close coordination and interoperability with our South Korean ally; nuclear deterrence; resilience initiatives; and the potential for direct cost-imposing approaches that come from a globally deployable Joint Force."
2026: "With its powerful military, supported by high defense spending, a strong defense industry, and mandatory military conscription, South Korea is capable of assuming primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support. South Korea also has the will to do so, given that it faces a direct and clear threat from North Korea."
2022: "As the Department continues to properly size its forward military presence in the Middle East after the transition of the mission in Afghanistan and continues our 'from-with-through' approach in Iraq and Syria, we will address the major security challenges in that region in an effective and sustainable manner."
"The Department will prioritize cooperation with our regional and global partners that results in their increased ability to deter and defend against potential aggression from Iran, for example by working to advance integrated air and missile defense, maritime security, and irregular warfare capabilities. Working in collaboration with global and interagency partners, the Department will redouble efforts to support regional security coalitions within the Gulf Cooperation Council and among states in the region to ensure maritime security and enhance collective intelligence and warning."
2026: "The Department will empower regional allies and partners to assume primary responsibility for deterring and defending against Iran and its proxies, including strongly supporting Israel's efforts to defend itself; deepening cooperation with our Gulf partners; and enabling the integration of Israel and our Gulf partners, building on President Trump's historic initiative, the Avram Accords. As we do so, the Department will maintain our ability to take focused, decisive action in defense of U.S. interests."
Bonus video:
