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The most recent evolution of the United States’ security strategy clearly signals a structural shift in the way Washington interprets and defines its role in the defense of the European continent. This is not a simple tactical adjustment, but a profound transformation of the overall strategic approach. The recent publication of two key documents, the National Security Strategy 2025 (NSS 2025) and the National Defense Strategy 2026 (NDS 2026), reflects the U.S. administration’s desire to streamline the security decision-making process, reducing the interpretative ambiguities that had previously characterized the relationship between political direction and military planning. This accelerated transition from the formulation of priorities to their operational implementation indicates the intention to make strategic choices immediately binding. This framework also reflects the statements of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who explicitly called for the need to rethink the Atlantic Alliance in its traditional form. These affirmations do not appear as isolated or contingent positions, but rather as the political expression of an already mature and consolidated strategic orientation, consistent with the broader review of the United States’ role in the Euro-Atlantic security landscape.
THE FUNCTIONAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE NSS 2025 AND THE NDS 2026
The NSS 2025 represents the White House’s general policy document, defining the priorities, objectives, and overall vision of national security. It provides the conceptual framework within which subsequent decisions are made, without delving into the specifics of military deployment. This task is entrusted to the NDS 2026, developed by the Department of Defense, which translates these orientations into concrete operational directives. The defense strategy clarifies how the U.S. armed forces should be organized, geographically distributed, and employed, with particular attention to the balance between permanent presence, strategic deterrence, and the ability to rapidly deploy in response to crises.
REDUCING DIRECT U.S. COMMITMENT IN EUROPE
One of the central elements of the NDS 2026 concerns the progressive reduction of U.S. land forces permanently deployed on the European continent. This approach does not imply a total disengagement, but rather a redefinition of the military posture based on greater operational flexibility and the availability of units capable of rapid intervention in case of emergency. This choice represents a redistribution of responsibilities within NATO, in which Europe is called upon to assume a more significant role in its conventional defense.
OVERCOMING THE MODEL OF AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCE
The new strategic paradigm aims to definitively overcome a security model based on almost automatic dependence on U.S. military guarantees. The rethinking of the Atlantic Alliance, evoked at the political level, should not be interpreted as a weakening of NATO, but as an adaptation to a historical and strategic context that has profoundly changed compared to that of the Cold War. The complementarity of U.S. strategic documents clearly demonstrates that the Alliance’s transformation is considered a necessary condition for maintaining its long-term effectiveness.
REDISTRIBUTION OF MILITARY CAPABILITIES WITHIN THE ALLIANCE
According to the NDS 2026, the United States intends to focus on the domains considered to be of the highest strategic value, such as nuclear deterrence, missile defense, cyberspace, and long-range strike capabilities. At the same time, European allies are given the primary responsibility for closing capability gaps in the conventional sector, in order to be able to autonomously sustain high-intensity combat operations over time. This functional redistribution of capabilities is one of the implicit pillars of the current U.S. strategic vision.
IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMAND AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING
The outlined change also has direct implications for NATO’s command and control structures. Pressure is growing for European countries to assume a more decisive role in the planning and conduct of operations, while maintaining U.S. strategic leadership within the Alliance. This evolution is part of a broader U.S. priority aimed at concentrating the core of its military power on the defense of its national territory and the Indo-Pacific region.
THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE: BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE AND STRATEGIC AUTONOMY
In light of these transformations, Europe is faced with the need to find a new balance in international crises: on the one hand, maintaining solid relations with the U.S. ally and preserving the cohesion of the Atlantic Alliance as a pillar of collective security remains essential; on the other hand, the need to strengthen the European Union’s autonomous border defense capacity is clearly evident, especially in light of Russia’s growing pressure on its eastern flank. The challenge is to reconcile these two dimensions, avoiding both excessive dependence and strategic fragmentation, and building a more mature and credible European responsibility within a renewed transatlantic framework.