The United States is unlikely to provide substantial, if any, support to Europe (Image: Getty)
A secret Pentagon memo has been revealed and in it is is said that should Russia attacks Europe, the U.S. isn't planning on offering any help. The internal guidance memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instead focuses on deterring China’s seizure of Taiwan and shoring up homeland defense.
The Washington Post report that in some instances, the document is nearly a word-for-word exact copy of a report from the conservative think tank behind Project 2025.
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In the memo, Hegseth's guidance acknowledges that the United States is unlikely to provide substantial, if any, support to Europe in the case of Russian military advances. It notes that Washington intends to insist NATO allies to take primary defense of the region.
It says that the United States will support Europe with nuclear deterrence of Russia, and should only count on forces not required for homeland defense or China deterrence missions.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reoriented the U.S. military to prioritize deterring China (Image: Getty)
A notable increase in Europe sharing the defense burden, the document says, “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."
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The document, known as the Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance and marked “secret/no foreign national” in most passages, was distributed throughout the Defense Department in mid-March and signed by Hegseth.
The guidance in the memo matches the Pentagon with some of President Trump's international concerns, including undertermined threats from the "near abroad". U.S. forces, he wrote, 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 said "we have to have Greenland". This escalated tensions with Denmark, a NATO ally that governs the foreign policy and island defences.
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The interim guidance is nine pages. Several passages throughout are similar to a longer 2024 report by the Heritage Foundation, some of which are nearly identical, according to The Washington Post’s analysis of both documents.
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The Heritage Foundation did not return The Washington Post's request for comment.