The US Department of War (DoW) has released its 2026 National Defense Strategy. The document builds on the National Security Strategy which we reviewed last December. Vanguard - Communist Party of Australia (M-L)

 

Both documents identify US domination and control of the Western Hemisphere (North,  Central and South America) as Trump's priority. Without control of the Western Hemisphere, the US does not believe it can effectively exercise global hegemony.

 

Both Strategies attempt to manage US imperialism's decline, and match the growing reach of its biggest competitor, Chinese social-imperialism.

During his first presidency, Trump attempted to deal with the cost of US over-reach. He instructed US "allies" to take on more of the financial burden of maintaining US global dominance.

 

The Strategies formalise that approach and are couched in a double-speak that attempts to sound benign, but is always backed up by the big stick.

It says that Trump entered his second term of office with the US "on the precipice of disastrous wars for which we were unprepared", and that having "the world's strongest, most lethal and most capable military", it no longer has to be "distracted by interventionism, endless wars, regime change and nation building."

 

The DoW Strategy identifies four key "lines of effort", namely:

1. Defend the US Homeland

2. Deter China in the Indo-Pacific Through Strength, Not Confrontation

3. Increase Burden-Sharing with US Allies and Partners

4. Supercharge the US Industrial Base

 

The "foremost" of these is the first one.

 

There are various ways to do this, according to the document. The first is using the DoW to seal US borders: "repel forms of invasion, and deport illegal aliens in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security". This has already plunged the US into the new ICE age as uniformed ICE thugs kill who they like, when they like and then have the Secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem lie about it and label the victims as "domestic terrorists".

 

Another way is to "secure key terrain in the Western Hemisphere … especially Greenland, the Gulf of America (sic) and the Panama Canal."

 

Deterring China is the second most important "line of effort". It is almost conciliatory in tone, denying any US aggressive intent and offering a "balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows all of us – the United States, China and others in the region – to enjoy a decent peace." Breaking Defense, a website for the US military community, notes: "Interestingly, "Taiwan" does not appear mentioned anywhere in the document."

 

But it is to be peace though (US) strength, and that means "to build, posture and sustain a strong denial defense along the FIC".  The FIC is the so-called First Island Chain, stretching from the Kuril Islands and Japan, down to Taiwan, the northern Philippines, Borneo and around to the Malay Peninsula.  It is designed to be a barrier to Chinese entry into the Pacific. 

 

Increasing the burden-sharing has already been mentioned, and the last, super-charging the US Defense Industrial Base simply means spending heaps of federal money to try and catch up with those areas where China now holds a commanding lead.

 

US imperialism is in trouble.  It is beset with inter-imperialist contradictions and sharpening social contradictions at home.

 

No matter how it tries to secure its global domination, it is a weakening power and will inevitably use war as the only way to try and stay on top.