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US defence secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to “restore US military dominance” in the Western hemisphere as Washington formally shifts its national security policy towards its geographic backyard.
Hegseth declared that the Monroe Doctrine — which in 1823 claimed the western hemisphere as a US sphere of influence — “is in effect” and “stronger than ever”, and that the Pentagon would make “defending the US homeland and our hemisphere” its primary effort.
His speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California on Saturday came a day after the White House released its national security strategy, which made the western hemisphere the top priority of its “core, vital interests”. It cut the emphasis on countering China and Russia made by Joe Biden’s administration, along with the reference to Beijing and Moscow as “revisionist powers” from President Donald Trump’s first-term NSS.
Trump’s second strategy proclaimed a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, and suggested there could be more troops, bases and military operations in the western hemisphere, with a change in how the US’s armed forces are deployed globally to counter “urgent threats” in the region.
The US currently has its largest deployment of warships in the Caribbean, with over a dozen vessels and more than 14,000 troops. Washington has carried out 22 strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing at least 87, as it weighs attacks on Venezuelan soil.
Hegseth, who has been embroiled in controversy this week over the legality of the double strike that kicked off the US’s anti-trafficking campaign, defended the attacks as being “about deterring and defending our nation’s [interests], against other threats” in the hemisphere.
Questioned later, he would not commit to releasing the full video footage of the initial September 2 strike and its follow-up that killed two survivors, something lawmakers on Capitol Hill have demanded and Trump has suggested he would be willing to do.
“We’re reviewing it right now . . . it’s an ongoing operation”, Hegseth told the crowd in California.
The defence secretary continued to distance himself from the decision to launch the second strike which killed men clinging to the wreckage, saying he had left the room and did not order it himself. But he defended it as a call he would have made.
In his prepared remarks, he also said that the defence department stood ready to guarantee “US military and commercial access to key terrain like the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, the Arctic and Greenland”.
He stressed that America’s neighbours “must do their part” as well. Mexico has made progress on this front, but the US wants to see more quickly, Hegseth said.
“We will also deny adversaries’ ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities in our hemisphere”, Hegseth added.
The Pentagon’s second priority would be “deterring China through strength, not confrontation”, followed by more “burden sharing” among the US and its allies, and “super charging” America’s defence industrial base”, the secretary said.
The US’s approach to China would be “aimed not at domination, but rather at a balance of power”, with Washington projecting strength but not being “unnecessarily confrontational.”
“It’s our job to make sure Beijing sees unquestionable US military strength” and ensure that China respects America’s interest in Indo-Pacific region. In turn, “this involves respecting the historic military build-up they are undertaking”, Hegseth said.
The secretary did acknowledge that there are threats in Europe and the Middle East.
“We cannot ignore them, nor should we”, but countries in the regions could no longer “free ride” on the US’s defence.
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