By Moderator, 28 January 2026
The United States issued its National Security Strategy (NSS) in November 2025, and now it has released the 2026 Defense Strategy, subtitled “Restoring Peace Through Strength for a New Golden Age of America.” As usual, it’s an interesting read, more so given the state of the world.
The 2026 strategy starts with an introduction by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in which he says:
For too long, the U.S. Government neglected -- even rejected -- putting Americans and their concrete interests first. Previous administrations squandered our military advantages and the lives, goodwill, and resources of our people in grandiose nation-building projects and self-congratulatory pledges to uphold cloud-castle abstractions like the rules-based international order. These past leaders neglected and often actively undermined our warfighters' warrior ethos and our military's core, irreplaceable role-fighting, winning, and thereby deterring the wars that really matter to our people. Consequently, President Trump entered office with the nation on the precipice of disastrous wars for which we were unprepared. President Trump has decisively changed that, courageously putting Americans first to truly make America great once again….
As well, the introduction states that the United States will not be isolationist, but “…nor will we make up for allied security shortfalls from their leaders' own irresponsible choices.” The previous administration, Hegseth notes, “encouraged” European allies (and presumably Canada) to free-ride. As well, the previous administration “allowed, even enabled, our cunning adversaries to grow more powerful, even as they encouraged our allies to behave as dependents rather than partners, weakening our alliances and leaving us more vulnerable.”
Now to the body of the document. As defence policy documents sensibly do, it states that the United States must prioritize issues that mean the most to Americans. The priorities are listed as:
- defend the homeland [“actively and fearlessly defend America’s interests throughout the Western Hemisphere. We will guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland.”] [“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 do their part to defend our shared interests.”] As well, this priority means securing the border, stopping narco-terrorists, “secur[ing] key terrain in western hemisphere”, building the Golden Dome, modernizing/updating nuclear forces, deterring cyber attacks, countering Islamic terrorism.
- deter China in the Indo-Pacific through strength, not confrontation [“we will erect a strong denial defense along the First Island Chain (FIC). We will also urge and enable key regional allies and partners to do more for our collective defense. In doing so, we will reinforce deterrence by denial so that all nations recognize that their interests are best served through peace and restraint.”]
- increase burden-sharing with US allies and partners [“Through this America First, commonsense lens, America’s alliances and partners have an essential role to play -- but not as the dependencies of the last generation.”] [“Canada … has a vital role to play in helping to defend North America against other threats, including by strengthening defenses against air, missile, and undersea threats.”] [“Incentives work and will be a critical part of our alliance policy. We will therefore prioritize cooperation and engagements with model allies -- those who are spending as they need to and visibly doing more against threats in their regions, with critical but limited U.S. support—including through arms sales, defense industrial collaboration, intelligence-sharing, and other activities that leave our nations better off.”]
- supercharge the U.S. defense industrial base [“We must return to being the world’s premier arsenal, one that can produce not only for ourselves but also for our allies and partners at scale, rapidly, and at the highest levels of quality.”]
The NSS emphasized that the United States will focus on the Western Hemisphere. The Defense Strategy notes that “the wisdom” of the Monroe Doctrine has been lost, and “[a]s a result, we have seen adversaries’ influence grow from Greenland in the Arctic to the Gulf of America, the Panama Canal, and locations farther south. This not only threatens U.S. access to key terrain throughout the hemisphere; it also leaves the Americas less stable and secure, undermining both U.S. interests and those of our regional partners.”
Unlike the NSS, this document spends some time discussing other countries. With regard to China, the United States will “maintain a favorable balance of military power in the Indo-Pacific.” But this will not be “for purposes of dominating, humiliating, or strangling China,” but “to ensure that neither China nor anyone else can dominate us or our allies.” This will be in pursuit of “a decent peace, on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under.”
It states that the war in Ukraine is Europe’s responsibility. It notes that “although we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must -- and will -- prioritize defending the U.S. Homeland and deterring China.”
It mentions Iran briefly, noting that the United States has “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapon program. It mentions North Korea but only to discusses its threat to South Korea and Japan, with one quick mention that it has missiles that can reach United States. The continent of Africa gets one small paragraph stating that Washington will deal with Africa to counter Islamic terrorist threats to the United States.
In conclusion, a year ago (apparently) “the world was on the precipice of a world war.” That is no longer the case (apparently). The United States wants peace, if opponents respect its “reasonably conceived interests.” If this “gracious offer” is rejected, then the US military “stands ready to fight.” Several observations come to mind: it makes some sensible points; it’s convenient to blame the previous administration for everything; and it does not recognize that many allies/partners are now actively seeking to distance themselves from the United States.
See the full document at
https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/23/2003864773/-1/-1/0/2026-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-STRATEGY.PDF
