The Pentagon’s latest report on the National Defense Strategy’s implementation notes progress in accelerating weapons production, cutting red tape, and persuading European allies to increase defense spending, but it largely omits pressing challenges such as Russia’s escalating aggression in Europe and the high cost of U.S. conflicts in the Middle East.
The September 22 report, submitted to Congress and released on the Defense Department’s social media, claims “significant progress” in executing the 2026 NDS across several key areas. It cites a historic budget request that funds undersea forces, long‑range air and ground fire capabilities, communications and intelligence satellites, and allocates $53 billion to speed up munitions development.
The timing coincides with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s upcoming “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he is expected to echo major themes from the update, according to a source familiar with the planning.
The update highlights the Golden Dome for America (GDA) initiative, describing a first live‑fire event that demonstrated command‑and‑control and integration of counter‑drone and missile defenses. It also notes coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to streamline the deployment of next‑generation counter‑unmanned aircraft systems (C‑UAS) within the national airspace.
The administration touts its diplomatic push for European allies to spend more on their militaries, referencing Polish Defense Secretary Paweł Ksawery Zalewski’s recent statement that NATO 3.0 should not be seen as a U.S. retreat. “Polish armed forces and American armed forces have never been so close and so good and so deep as today,” Zalewski said to a U.S. audience.
However, the report overlooks deteriorating conditions since the NDS’s January release, partly due to the decision to launch a war with Iran. It does not address how Operation Epic Fury and other Middle East operations have set back the goal of replenishing the U.S. arsenal by “months and years,” as a May Center for Strategic and International Studies report noted, nor does it mention the NDS’s warning against “endless wars, regime change, and nation building,” which the administration cited to justify the Iran campaign.
The update also fails to mention the NDS’s stance that regional allies should deter Iran and that additional strikes to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon would be unnecessary after the June 2025 “Midnight Hammer” bombing. Instead, the Defense Department asserts it “anticipated that such a need might be forthcoming.”
Perhaps most conspicuously, the report—and the original NDS—does not address Russian actions, including hybrid and kinetic operations against NATO members, military assistance to Iran, and intensified warfare in Ukraine. The update notes a reduction in U.S. manned brigade combat teams in Europe from five to three, returning to 2021 levels, a move analysts warn could leave the continent vulnerable.
Max Bergmann and Otto Svendsen, writing for the Heinrich Böll Foundation on Sept. 24, caution that “a potential U.S. force posture reduction in Europe will leave the continent vulnerable to further Russian aggression.”
