US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to prioritize deterring China from seizing Taiwan and bolstering the country's defenses by "taking risks" in Europe and other parts of the world, The Washington Post reports.
This is according to a confidential Pentagon document with guidelines similar to the conservative Heritage Foundation, but published by the think tank last year. The foundation did not respond to a request for comment. This is according to an analysis by The Washington Post of both documents. One of the co-authors of the Heritage report, Alexander Velez-Green, is now serving an interim role as a senior Pentagon policy official.
The Defense Department also did not comment.
The interim guidance is nine pages long.
The document, known as the Interim Strategic Guidance for National Defense and marked "secret" in most passages, was circulated to the Defense Department in mid-March and signed by Hegseth.
It outlines, in detailed and sometimes biased detail, the implementation of President Donald Trump’s vision of preparing for and winning a potential war against Beijing and protecting the United States from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama Canal.
The document, which sets out a framework for senior defense officials to prioritize and a vision for doing that work, also instructs the military to take a more direct role in countering illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The first Trump administration and the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, identified China as the greatest threat to the United States and placed a force to prepare for and deter conflict in the Pacific region. But Hegseth’s guidance is exceptional in describing a potential invasion of Taiwan as a priority.
The Pentagon will “take risks” given personnel and resource constraints and pressure allies in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia to spend more on defense to take on the bulk of the deterrent role against threats from Russia, North Korea and Iran, according to the guidance.
While the Biden administration’s 2022 national defense strategy emphasized a united response to Russian aggression, calling “mutually beneficial alliances and allies our greatest global strategic advantage,” Hegseth’s interim guidance says NATO should take on a “far greater” role. burden-sharing, as the United States would be reluctant to commit forces with its priorities focused elsewhere.
The Hegsett leadership acknowledges that the United States is unlikely to provide significant, if any, support to Europe in the event of a Russian military advance, noting that Washington intends to push NATO allies to take on the primary defense of the region. The United States would support Europe with a nuclear deterrent to Russia, and NATO should rely only on U.S. forces that are not needed for domestic defense or missions to deter China, the document says.
A significant increase in burden-sharing for Europe’s defense, the document says, “would also ensure that NATO can credibly deter or defeat Russian aggression, even if deterrence fails and the United States is already committed to or must withhold forces to deter a primary conflict in another region.”