(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The newly rebranded Department of War is expected to release a National Defense Strategy that prioritizes missions in the homeland and the Western Hemisphere over countering China and Russia, a shift from the Pentagon’s policy in recent years, which has placed China as the top priority, according to a report from POLITICO.
The report said that the new NDS has been placed on the desk of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who could make changes to the document before it’s released. The news comes as the US military has been deploying National Guard troops in US cities and has sent an armada of warships near Venezuela in the Caribbean, where it recently bombed a boat allegedly carrying drugs.
The POLITICO report said the new NDS was drafted by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, who has a long history of urging the US to prioritize China and prepare for war over Taiwan despite the risk of nuclear war.
Colby also drafted the 2018 NDS, which outlined the shift away from counterterrorism in the Middle East to countering China and Russia. Colby’s 2021 book “The Strategy of Denial” argued that the US should scale back elsewhere to focus its military on denying China the ability to seize Taiwan.
In 2024, Colby wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, suggesting that if a significant change were not made, it might be too late for the US and Taiwan to build up the capabilities to fend off a Chinese invasion. “I haven’t yet given up hope, but the US and Taiwan must dramatically change course, or we won’t have a real option to defend the island,” he wrote.
The 2022 NDS released by the Biden administration labeled China as the top priority, and since then, the Pentagon has referred to China as the “pacing threat.” US military leaders have spoken openly about the fact that the US has been preparing for a war with China over Taiwan.
A new NDS that de-prioritizes China doesn’t mean that the US will slow its military buildup in the Asia Pacific, since China is still expected to be the top priority outside of the Western Hemisphere. Colby is also overseeing the Pentagon’s Global Posture Review, which could lead to US troop reductions in Europe and the Middle East, potentially allowing more troops to be deployed to Latin America and Asia.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
