The Pentagon has published its National Defense Strategy (NDS) for 2026, setting out a shift in priorities that places homeland defence and the Indo-Pacific at the centre of US military planning, while signalling that allies in Europe and other regions should expect “critical but more limited” American support.

The 34-page document says US forces will concentrate on protecting the United States and preventing China from dominating the Indo-Pacific, while encouraging partners elsewhere to assume primary responsibility for their own security. “As U.S. forces focus on Homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces,” the strategy states.

The text also introduces a strongly domestic framing for military tasks. Under a section titled “Secure Our Borders”, it declares: “Border security is national security”, adding that the Department of War “will therefore prioritize efforts to seal our borders, repel forms of invasion, and deport illegal aliens” in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.

On Europe, the strategy argues that NATO allies are “strongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense” and that Washington will “calibrate” its posture in the European theatre while prioritising homeland defence and China deterrence. The document describes Russia as “a persistent but manageable threat to NATO’s eastern members for the foreseeable future”, while noting Moscow’s nuclear, undersea, space and cyber capabilities, and referring to Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine.

The approach contrasts with the Biden administration’s 2022 defence strategy, which treated China as the “pacing challenge” and described Russia as an “acute threat”, while also linking defence planning to transboundary risks including climate change. In the new 2026 strategy, the Indo-Pacific section emphasises avoiding confrontation with Beijing, stating that the goal is to ensure China cannot dominate the United States or its allies, and that this “does not require regime change or some other existential struggle”.

Reporting on the document highlighted that it does not explicitly mention Taiwan, despite longstanding US policy commitments under domestic law and repeated tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Reuters reported that the strategy’s language envisages a “decent peace” with China “on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under”, and notes an intent to widen military-to-military communication.

Beyond Europe and the Indo-Pacific, the strategy sets out a renewed emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. It says the United States will “restore American military dominance in the Western Hemisphere” and will use it to protect the homeland and secure access to “key terrain” across the region. It specifically references the Panama Canal, Greenland and what it calls the “Gulf of America”. The document frames this posture as a “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”.

In practical terms, the text links hemispheric security to organised crime and narcotics trafficking. It refers to actions against “narco-terrorists” and cites an operation it calls “ABSOLUTE RESOLVE”, adding that “all narco-terrorists should take note”, with a direct reference to Nicolás Maduro.

In Asia, the strategy extends burden-sharing logic to the Korean Peninsula. Reuters reported that the document says South Korea is capable of taking “primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support”, language that could fuel debate over the future size and role of the US troop presence in the country. South Korea’s defence ministry said US forces remain the “core” of the alliance and that Seoul would work closely with Washington on its development.

The 2026 strategy also draws attention for what it omits. Several outlets noted the absence of climate change as a stated security concern, a departure from recent US defence planning documents.

The publication follows recent White House messaging about a broader redefinition of US global posture. Earlier this month, Stephen Miller described a “Trump doctrine” in which the United States would use military power to protect American interests, which he characterised as aligned with the “future of a free world”.