A Department of War plaque hangs at the main entrance to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., after installation Nov. 13, 2025. (Madelyn Keech/U.S. Air Force)
A new U.S. national defense strategy released Friday puts protection of the homeland and access to strategic terrain in the Western Hemisphere atop the military’s agenda, marking a shift from the Pentagon’s previous position that countering China was the Defense Department’s number one pacing threat.
The Pentagon’s long-awaited new plan lines up with the White House’s National Security Strategy, released last month, and prioritizes border security, targeting drug traffickers and “fearlessly” defending “America’s interests across the hemisphere.”
“We will guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland,” the document states. “We will provide President Trump with credible military options to use against narco-terrorists wherever they may be.”
The Pentagon said it will work with nearby allies and partners, such as neighbor and NATO ally Canada, and added “we will ensure that they respect and do their part to defend our shared interests.”
“And where they do not, we will stand ready to take focused, decisive action that concretely advances U.S. interests,” the Pentagon strategy states.
The heavy emphasis on military operations in the Western Hemisphere is a shift from previous defense strategies, which since 2018 have made China the number one issue. Now, deterring China is second on the agenda. The approach calls for more diplomacy aimed at avoiding confrontation with Beijing while building up defenses in the Pacific to discourage Chinese aggression.
Efforts will be made to support “strategic stability,” “deconfliction” and “de-escalation,” the strategy states.
“But we will also be clear-eyed and realistic about the speed, scale, and quality of China’s historic military buildup,” the strategy states. “Our goal in doing so is not to dominate China; nor is it to strangle or humiliate them.”
The aim is to achieve a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and prevent China from dominating the region, according to the strategy. The “peace through strength” approach will be backed by “erecting a strong denial defense” along the Pacific’s first island chain and through more military burden-sharing among allies in the region, the strategy says.
In Europe, meanwhile, Russia is still viewed as a threat, especially to allies on NATO’s eastern flank.
“In light of this, the Department will ensure that U.S. forces are prepared to defend against Russian threats to the U.S. Homeland,” the strategy states. “The Department will also continue to play a vital role in NATO itself, even as we calibrate U.S. force posture and activities in the European theater to better account for the Russian threat to American interests as well as our allies’ own capabilities.”
The strategy says Russia is in no position to pose a threat to Europe as a whole, given that NATO dwarfs Russia “in economic scale, population, and, thus, latent military power.”
Still, the Pentagon says it will remain involved in Europe going forward, although on a more limited basis as allies step up their defense spending and bolster their own capabilities.
“Our NATO allies are therefore strongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense, with critical but more limited U.S. support,” the strategy states.
