2025 National Security Strategy: Homeland, Hemisphere, and Alliances

Rithvik Hari

(Pete Souza/The White House/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In November 2025, the Trump administration released the 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS), a document released each presidential term outlining the administration's foreign policy agenda. The 2025 NSS marks a decisive pivot in how the United States defines and orders its national security priorities. Comparatively, the 2022 National Security Strategy under the Biden administration framed American security around global cooperation and strengthening rules-based international order. The 2025 NSS outright rejects that model. Instead, the new strategy pivots U.S. national security towards a more traditional concept of sovereignty, prioritizing the defense of the homeland, control of the Western Hemisphere and a transactional approach to alliances.

This shift represents a break with the post-Cold War idea that the United States must contribute to global stability. The U.S. has contributed to global stability by maintaining a military presence in Europe and Asia, deterring aggression and promoting peace. Additionally, the United States has provided economic assistance to countries that need it, attempting to address poverty in poorer countries.  The 2025 NSS argues that this approach “went astray,” claiming that previous administrations’ strategies have “fallen short” and have been a list of wishes instead of clearly defining what the United States wants. The strategy also claims that earlier administrations allowed allies to “offload the cost of their defense onto the American people” (2025 NSS, Introduction). In its place, the Trump administration offers a strategy that is more constrained geographically and more transactional in its expectations of allies.

The biggest departure from precedent is the revival and expansion of the Monroe Doctrine logic. The 2025 NSS declares that the United States will “assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” to ensure that the Western Hemisphere “remains reasonably stable and well-governed,” and cooperative in countering transnational criminal organizations (2025 NSS, II. 2). The strategy further states that “border security is the primary element of national security,” placing domestic stability at the heart of the strategy (2025 NSS, Priorities). On the other hand, the 2022 NSS—authored by the Biden administration—emphasized that the United States would work with regional partners to “build and preserve economic resilience, democratic stability, and citizen security within the hemisphere” (2022 NSS, p. 40). The 2025 strategy, by comparison, treats the Hemisphere not as a shared space, but a strategic line, where U.S. sovereignty and security take absolute precedence.

            While the 2025 NSS places heavy emphasis on homeland and defense of the hemisphere, it does not abandon alliances. Instead, the strategy redefines how the United States will collaborate with them. The 2022 NSS describes alliances as “our most important strategic asset and an indispensable element contributing to international peace and stability” (2022 NSS, p. 11). The strategy framed cooperation as a long-term commitment with mutual benefit. The 2025 NSS takes a different approach: it maintains that alliances remain important but insists that these alliances must operate on new, demanding terms. The document states that the United States “will no longer tolerate, and can no longer afford, free-riding, trade imbalances, predatory economic practices, and other impositions on our nation’s historic goodwill that disadvantage our interests” (2025 NSS, IV. 1), and highlights the new burden-sharing policy under the new administration. Specifically, the strategy highlights the new Hague Commitment, which pledges that NATO countries will spend 5% of their GDP on defense (2025 NSS, IV. 1). This is a dramatic increase from the long-standing 2% benchmark for NATO countries. The strategy also emphasizes that allies must assume “primary responsibility for their regions” (2025 NSS, IV. 2). This expectation is a shift from the 2022 model of a more integrated global leadership and protector idea to a more regional security focus.

The 2025 NSS carries significant implications for the United States’ closest neighbor and longtime ally: Canada. The NSS refers to Canada once, undermining the effectiveness and importance of the relationship. An article published by Stephen Nagy of the National Security Journal states, “Canada is treated less as a sovereign partner than as a hemispheric asset expected to align with U.S. priorities, from Arctic access to blocking Chinese influence.” While it is important that the U.S. focuses on protecting their national security, Canada must also do the same without being trampled on. As our neighbor and longtime ally, it is important that the administration work with the Canadian government to ensure that both countries can work together as partners in maintain stability and control over the western hemisphere.

As the NSS emphasizes homeland defense, hemispheric control, and demands higher contributions and regional responsibility from allies, Washington cannot allow this ambiguity to undermine the decades of trust-based cooperation that they have built. The administration should immediately share with members of Congress how this strategy will be implemented and applied in practice and reaffirm that the United States will uphold its defense commitments when they matter most. Doing so will reassure our allies and partners that the U.S. will be there to support them in times of need and not fracture the relationships that have been built. It is important that the United States prioritize its interests in terms of national security but, by forcing our allies' hand and by putting significant pressure on the relationships that have been built through years of conflicts, it puts the United States at risk.

            The 2025 National Security Strategy under the Trump administration represents a reorientation of U.S. foreign policy. By prioritizing homeland defense, asserting power over the Western hemisphere, and redefining cooperation with allies, the administration has charted a new course. Whether this shift strengthens American security or strains long-standing partnerships will depend on how allies respond, and how consistently the United States applies this new strategy. Yet one thing is clear, the 2025 NSS signals a new era in American policy—one centered on sovereignty, regional responsibility, and a hemisphere-first approach.