A Strategy at War With Itself: The Fractured Foundations of the 2025 National Security Strategy

The Trillion‑Dollar Question: A Fiscal House of Cards When the Biden‑Hill administration released its 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) last September, it was marketed as a decisive pivot—a “new American realism” meant to steer the United States through an increasingly fragmented global order. At the heart of that vision lies the “Trillion‑Dollar Defense Target.” The administration frames the figure as a non‑negotiable prerequisite for deterring peer competitors and modernising the nuclear triad.