ICE, National Guard Deployments Just the Beginning

Upcoming National Security Strategy makes “homeland” top priority

One might think that the word “homeland” is mere post-9/11 sloganeering, but Trump’s new National Security Strategy, now in final edits, makes the United States and the Western Hemisphere the single top priority for the military and the national security agencies, multiple government sources say.

Trump is taking “America First” literally.

For the first time ever, the strategy incorporates everything from closing the borders and establishing “National Defense Areas” along them, immigration enforcement operations, the war against Antifa and other domestic groups, and even boat strikes in the Caribbean into a singular coherent war. Meanwhile, China and Russia, Iran and North Korea, and fighting in the Middle East are downgraded to secondary priorities.

“The strategy focuses more on homeland security/homeland defense than any other previous document, including right after 9/11,” a senior intelligence official who has seen the National Security Strategy, which is classified, told me.

“The priority is the Western Hemisphere, from Arctic defense to stability in South America, from border security to the Golden Dome,” the intelligence official said. “Immigration, migration, TCOs [Transnational Criminal Organizations], foreign influence all come under the umbrella of homeland defense.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year alluded to the new homeland emphasis in its description of the classified Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance, signed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on March 13.

“The INDSG prioritizes defense of the homeland and deterrence of China over all other threats,” the Committee said in a document related to a Trump nomination for the Pentagon.

The head of the National Guard went into further detail about the strategy’s new priority.

“The INDSG is the Department of Defense’s response to a dangerous, dynamic, and complex moment in history, with unprecedented challenges to our national security,” General Steven S. Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard told Congress in May. “We face vulnerabilities on our borders including illegal immigration, deadly narcotics trafficking, advanced air and missile threats, cyber intrusions, and critical infrastructure risks.”

In Trump’s forthcoming National Strategy document, the domestic focus overtakes the previous China focus (the Obama and Biden administration’s top priority), with President Trump explicitly ordering the armed forces to also make homeland defense the top priority.

“The President has directed the Joint Force to defend our Homeland and secure our borders,” says another Senate Armed Services nomination document.

While many people may have only noticed the National Guard deployments to Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Chicago; and the ICE raids nationwide as law enforcement actions directed at Democratic cities and states, the homeland emphasis directs all agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the Pentagon — as well as the Justice and Treasury Departments and the intelligence community — to work together for a singular goal. Practically, that means changes for American geography itself, with the establishment of militarized border zones that the Pentagon calls “National Defense Areas.” All across the southern border, Joint Task Forces of military and civilian authorities are taking up positions and coordinating their efforts.

The FBI is also establishing a network of “homeland security task forces” to fight drug traffickers, cartels and gangs, enlisting state and local police and other agencies into a new army. The existing 50-plus Joint Terrorism Task Forces, largely created after 9/11, to fight terrorism will continue as well, now tasked by presidential directive NSPM-7.

“Antifa is an existential threat to our nation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X this week — an outrageous remark that nonetheless provides insight into how acutely focused the administration is on radical left groups. The threat to our existence, she went on to explain, was violent scuffles during a Turning Point USA (the late Charlie Kirk’s org) event at University of California, Berkeley, this past weekend. The Justice Department has accused the university and local law enforcement of not adequately protecting the First Amendment rights of the attendees.

The new National Security Strategy, expected to be completed by the end of the year, is the Trump administration’s statement that ties together all of these disparate parts.

“In the past, the military has been able to stiff arm homeland security, claiming that its wars overseas were a higher priority,” a homeland security official told me. “When it has suited the military, it has pointed to the Department [of Homeland Security] as responsible, enabling it to decide what priority they would accord the United States.”

Now, the official says, they have to conform to a broader articulation.

It’s not quite a declaration of war on America; but it is a war in America.

— Edited by William M. Arkin