DEEP DIVE: New US “National Security Strategy” is Repackaged Wolfowitz Doctrine

• The recently release 2025 US National Security Strategy is being misrepresented as a “shift” in US foreign policy, with claims the paper does not cite Russia or China as major threats and instead seeks to focus on the Western Hemisphere;

• However, the entire paper is a blueprint for not only continued confrontation with both Russia and China (as well as Iran and beyond), it seeks to enlist and expand what it calls a “burden sharing network” to do so;

• While the paper doesn’t name Russia and China directly, it constantly refers to taking actions against “adversaries” obviously meaning both Russia and China;

• The paper is an updated continuation of the post-Cold War “Wolfowitz Doctrine” through which the US seeks to maintain global primacy while preventing the mergence of any rival or bloc of rivals;

References:

White House – National Security Strategy 2025:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content…

NYT – U.S. STRATEGY PLAN CALLS FOR INSURING NO RIVALS DEVELOP (1992):
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/wo…

NYT – The Partnership: The Secret History of the War in Ukraine (Mar. 2025):
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2…

Reuters – US intelligence helps Ukraine target Russian energy infrastructure, FT reports (Oct. 2025):
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/…

NYT – The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin (Feb. 2024):
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/wo…

CSIS – How Much Trade Transits the South China Sea?:
https://chinapower.csis.org/much-trad…

US Naval War College Review – A Maritime Oil Blockade Against China—Tactically Tempting but Strategically Flawed (2018):
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi…