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New US defense strategy shifts focus to the Americas, rattling allies

The arrival this week of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East, within striking distance of Iran, came as allies reacted to the release of a new report offering a blueprint for how America plans to flex its military might around the world.

Released late on Friday 鈥� the traditional 鈥渘ews dump鈥� window for potentially contentious administration announcements 鈥� (NDS) puts the nation鈥檚 home hemisphere first, calls on longtime U.S. allies to shoulder more of the burden in deterring threats from Russia and North Korea, and lays out the goal of reducing tensions with China.

It also explains why the Trump administration is keeping a close watch on Iran.

Defense analysts are alternately calling the new strategy, revised and published by the Pentagon every four years, a 鈥渕arked鈥� and 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� turnabout in policy.

It 鈥渟ignals arguably the single greatest shift in American defense priorities since the end of World War II鈥� articulating 鈥渁 significantly smaller role for the United States in global affairs, writes Carrie Lee, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in an published on Monday.

In Washington and in Europe, the NDS also had allies mulling its implications and privately grumbling about the scolding tone.

That tone was likely no accident. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth writes in the strategy鈥檚 introduction that it will no longer be 鈥淎merica鈥檚 duty ... to act everywhere on our own, nor will we make up for allied security shortfalls from their leaders鈥� own irresponsible choices.鈥�

Instead, the United States will offer 鈥渕ore limited鈥� support to friendly nations and deter China 鈥渢hrough strength, not confrontation.鈥�

In the Middle East, the NDS says, the U.S. government says the Iranian regime is 鈥渨eaker and more vulnerable than it has been in decades.鈥� What that portends for possible U.S. strikes against Tehran, as the USS Abraham Lincoln鈥檚 carrier strike group arrived in the region this week, remains to be seen.

The report also points to plans to 鈥渟upercharge鈥� America鈥檚 defense industry.

Here are some of the strategy鈥檚 key takeaways:

Defending the U.S. homeland

Prior administrations, including President Donald Trump鈥檚 first, rated competition with China and Russia as the nation鈥檚 top security threats. The current emphasis on America鈥檚 military supremacy in the region was expected but still striking.

It cites the 鈥渨isdom鈥� of the Monroe Doctrine as the U.S seeks to 鈥渞estore American military dominance鈥� in the Western Hemisphere.

To this end, the Defense Department will work to 鈥済uarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain.鈥� The Panama Canal, Gulf of Mexico, and Greenland fall into that category, it asserts.

The Pentagon will now focus on developing Mr. Trump鈥檚 plan for a 鈥淕olden Dome鈥� 鈥� a conceptual space-based missile defense system meant to block long-range and hypersonic missile threats 鈥� for the U.S. and on less expensive ways to defeat large missile barrages.

It also emphasizes finding new ways to counter drones, which the NDS describes as a growing 鈥渢hreat.鈥�

Deterring China through strength, not confrontation

The Pentagon, the report says, is trying to cultivate 鈥渞espectful relations with China,鈥� which the NDS calls the 鈥渟econd most powerful country in the world.鈥�

This week, at a policy discussion in South Korea, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby said the strategy document鈥檚 point is to end 鈥渘eedless confrontation鈥� with Beijing.

In that pursuit, the Pentagon will seek to communicate with leaders in the People鈥檚 Liberation Army in more and different ways.

There is no mention of Taiwan in the document, analysts point out, even though a potential Chinese invasion of the island has long been a concern.

Still, the U.S. must be clear-eyed about the 鈥渟peed, scale, and quality of China鈥檚 historic military buildup,鈥� the NDS strategy advises.

The point, it adds, 鈥渋s not to dominate China鈥� nor 鈥渢o humiliate them鈥� but to keep the country from 鈥渂eing able to dominate us or our allies.鈥�

鈥淢ore limited鈥� support to allies

Russia will remain 鈥渁 persistent but manageable threat to NATO鈥檚 eastern members for the foreseeable future,鈥� the NDS says.

The Pentagon will also make sure U.S. forces are prepared to defend against Russian threats to the homeland 鈥� especially since Russia has, as the document notes, the world鈥檚 largest nuclear arsenal.

But the new strategy makes it clear that the U.S. expects European allies to take primary responsibility for their own defense against Russia.

Until now, the strategy argues, allies have been 鈥渢oo often content to allow the United States to defend them, while they cut defense spending and invested instead in things like public welfare.鈥� Even without the U.S., NATO countries collectively have ample resources to defend against aggression, including from Russia, says the report. It points out, using a bar graph, that 鈥渘on-US NATO鈥� nations have $26 trillion in total gross domestic product, compared with Russia鈥檚 $2 trillion.

鈥淓uropean NATO dwarfs Russia in economic scale, population, and, thus, latent military power,鈥� the NDS says. 鈥淥ur allies are substantially more powerful than Russia 鈥� it is not even close.鈥�

On this idea, however, there has been pushback. 鈥淚f anyone thinks here again that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming,鈥� NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told members of the European Parliament on Monday in Brussels. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛. We can鈥檛. We need each other.鈥� It was a response to growing calls by some European leaders, too, for more strategic autonomy.

Iran and North Korea: still threats

North Korean nuclear forces, 鈥済rowing in size and sophistication,鈥� are a danger to the American homeland, the report says. It also contends that South Korea is 鈥渃apable of taking primary responsibility鈥� for its defense, 鈥渨ith critical but more limited U.S. support.鈥�

But in the Middle East, the report issues a warning.

Though Iran has experienced 鈥渟evere setbacks鈥� as a result of military strikes on its territory over recent months, 鈥渋t appears intent on reconstituting its conventional military forces,鈥� the NDS says.

Leaders in Tehran 鈥渉ave also left open the possibility that they will again try to obtain a nuclear weapon,鈥� it adds. 鈥淣or can we ignore the facts that the Iranian regime has the blood of Americans on its hands, that it remains intent on destroying our close ally Israel, and that Iran and its proxies routinely instigate regional crises that not only threaten the lives of American servicemembers in the region but also prevent the region itself from pursuing the kind of peaceful and prosperous future that so many of its leaders and peoples clearly wish for.鈥�

For this, along with concerns about Iran鈥檚 violent crackdown on protests there, Mr. Trump has frequently mentioned the ongoing threat of U.S. military force.

The aircraft carrier strike group is now in the region, 鈥渏ust in case,鈥� Mr. Trump said last week. 鈥淢aybe we won鈥檛 have to use it.鈥�