The Pentagon’s unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy places the homeland as the department’s number one priority above the Indo-Pacific, and seemingly signals cuts to come to US forces in Europe and South Korea.
However, the document denies a push towards “isolationism” while calling for greater burden sharing from allies and increased investments in the defense industrial base.
The NDS, which lays out how the Defense Department will follow the guidance of the National Security Strategy (NSS), is traditionally considered a foundational document for the Pentagon. But in a contrast with past releases, the department chose an unusual lack of fanfare: it emailed the document with no warning at almost 7:00 pm on a Friday, when the entire east coast is focused on a major snowstorm that is approaching.
Well, the more you behave in a manner that’s a stench to the rest of the world, the more isolationist you become, the more important it is to defend the homeland— because there’s nothing else left to defend.