A secret longer version of the US National Security Strategy (NSS) calls for “Make Europe Great Again” but says a new “Core 5” (C5) group of countries – US, China, India, Russia, and Japan – should run the world, Defence One reported on December 9.

The public version of the NSS, released last week, put the cat amongst the pigeons by detailing US President Donald Trump’s vision of the US’ role in the world. Washington will downgrade its security commitments to Nato allies and Europe will have to provide most of its own security in a new “burden-sharing” model. The document also asserts the US primacy but divides the world into spheres of influence, with American dominant in the western hemisphere in an undated commercialised version of the Monroe Doctrine.

However, a secret and longer version, seen by Defence One, goes into more detail. It reaffirms a withdrawal from Europe’s defence, realignment with culturally aligned allies, and the creation of a new power bloc to replace Western-dominated forums such as the G7.

Europe will no longer be represented at the level of global powers. It is a key member of the G7 but will not be represented in the C5, which will play a similar role.

The secret version lays out in detail a US policy of interference in European domestic policies but overtly backing right-wing governments, parties and political players on the Continent, as well as replacing the longstanding transatlantic “special relationship” with a looser, interest-driven alliance.

The Nato alliance will be downgraded and security and foreign relations will move towards more transactional one-on-one partnerships with like-minded countries such as Austria, Hungary, Italy and Poland. These nations are described as aligned with Washington's values and potential candidates for deeper cooperation aimed at pulling them “away from the [European Union],” according to the document.

“We should support parties, movements, and intellectual and cultural figures who seek sovereignty and preservation/restoration of traditional European ways of life… while remaining pro-American,” the longer NSS states. It frames Europe’s immigration policies and restrictions on speech as contributing to “civilizational erasure.”

At the multilateral level, the strategy proposes a new grouping known as the Core 5, which would bring together the US, China, Russia, India and Japan—all large population centres—into a forum for major-power dialogue outside the G7 framework.

The group would meet for themed summits, with Middle East security, particularly the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, set as its first agenda item.

The document is remarkable as it is a complete repudiation of post-Cold War US global dominance, and an acknowledgement that the US can’t dominate geopolitics, but sets out a strategy to limit the power of rivals in other regions, such as China in the Indo-Pacific region. The Kremlin has already welcomed the NSS, saying it is aligned with its world view and Russia will get a significant

upgrade from the new US strategy, while the EU is relegated to the second tier and becomes little more than a US client state.

“Hegemony is the wrong thing to want and it wasn’t achievable,” the long NSS says, arguing that permanent American leadership of the international system was a misguided ambition. The US should now pursue a narrower focus on core interests.

“After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country,” the strategy states. “Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests.”

While outlining a retreat from Europe, the strategy calls for renewed engagement in the Western Hemisphere, the US’ sphere of interest, particularly in response to Venezuela-based drug cartels, and a broader emphasis on working with “regional champions.”

“We will reward and encourage the region’s governments, political parties, and movements broadly aligned with our principles and strategy,” the document reads. “But we must not overlook governments with different outlooks with whom we nonetheless share interests and who want to work with us.”

The language and direction of the full NSS marks a significant departure not only from the Biden administration’s strategy, but also from the Trump administration’s own 2017 framework, Defense One reports. The latest version incorporates themes of cultural revival, traditional values, and religious identity, alongside a stark reassessment of US global obligations. However, it is shorn of any ideology and the values and rule-based international order rhetoric of the last 70 years has been wholly abandoned to be replaced by what Trump has dubbed “commercial diplomacy.”