US War Department officials are proposing to shift the US military posture away from a focus on China, instead prioritizing alleged threats in Latin America and the Caribbean, Politicoreported on 6 Saturday.
A draft of the newest National Defense Strategy places “domestic and regional missions above countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow,” Politico revealed, citing three people briefed on early versions of the report.
The news comes one day after Trump signed an executive order for the Department of Defense to be renamed the “War Department” to better reflect its mission.
Politico notes that the move, if implemented, would anger politicians in both the Republican and Democratic parties who have long been hostile to China and called for aggressive policies to counter its rise.
“This is going to be a major shift for the US and its allies on multiple continents,” said one person briefed on the draft document. “The old, trusted US promises are being questioned.”
The document was prepared by Elbridge Colby, the War Department’s policy chief. Politico reports that the shift away from China and toward the Western Hemisphere appears to be already underway.
The War Department deployed thousands of National Guard troops to support police in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, and has established a militarized zone across the southern border with Mexico that allows troops to detain civilians.
The policy shift may also result in the US withdrawing some troops from Europe and cutting military assistance programs for fellow NATO members.
“NATO allies increasingly expect some of the roughly 80,000 U.S. troops in Europe to leave over the next several years,” Politico added.
The proposed policy shift comes amid escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela.
This week, Trump authorized the US military to shoot down Venezuelan warplanes if commanders judge them a threat to US naval and air forces in the Caribbean. “If they do put us in a dangerous position, we’ll shoot them down,” Trump told reporters Friday.
Hellbound and Down 