The leaked memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead focuses on deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defense
A confidential Pentagon document suggests the United States may not come to Europe’s aid in the event of a Russian attack. The leaked internal memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose staggering ‘lies’ were exposed this week, is said to prioritise deterring China’s ambitions over Taiwan and bolstering defense measures on U.S. soil.
According to The Washington Post, parts of the memo are strikingly similar to a publication by a conservative think tank involved with Project 2025, with sections mirroring it word for word. It comes amid another Hegseth scandal over his tattoo and a panicked phone call from Trump over Elon Musk.
The memo outlines Hegseth’s stance that America is unlikely to offer significant support to Europe against Russian aggression. It highlights an expectation for NATO allies to assume the primary role in defending their territory.
The United States, the guidance suggests, will provide nuclear deterrence against Russia but will only commit forces that are not essential for homeland security or missions related to China.
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The document underscores the importance of increased defense contributions from European nations, stating that this “will also ensure NATO can reliably deter or defeat Russian aggression even if deterrence fails and the United States is already engaged in, or must withhold forces to deter, a primary conflict in another region.”
The latest memo aligns the Pentagon’s strategy with President Trump’s global security concerns, particularly highlighting undefined threats from the “near abroad”. In the document, Trump insists that U.S. forces must be “ready to defend American interests wherever they might be threatened in our hemisphere, from Greenland, to the Panama Canal, to Cape Horn.”
On Friday, March 28, Trump’s declaration “we have to have Greenland” ramped up tensions with Denmark, a NATO ally responsible for the autonomous island’s foreign affairs and defence.
The interim guidance spans nine pages and bears striking resemblances to a more extensive report set for 2024 by the Heritage Foundation, with several sections appearing almost verbatim when compared by The Washington Post.
The Heritage Foundation has not responded to The Washington Post’s request for a statement.
It’s been a bad week for Hegseth, who was embroiled in the Signal-gate text scandal.
Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, accused the Secretary of Defense of lying about sharing war plans in a Signal group chat.
Goldberg was accidentally added to this chat last month and released screenshots that contradict Hegseth’s previous claims.
Hegseth had insisted that no war plans were discussed in the private group on the encrypted messaging platform. “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that,” the former Fox News pundit stated when questioned by a reporter. He also claimed he had never met Goldberg.
The journalist addressed the issue in his latest column, saying: “So, about that Signal chat.” He continued, “On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app.”
Hegseth denied discussing war plans, but Goldberg’s screenshots suggest otherwise, showing Hegseth detailing the day’s events.