New National Security Strategy for 2026.

A few weeks ago, in early December 2025, the United States government's new national security strategy was made public.

A few weeks ago, in early December 2025, the US government's new National Security Strategy was released.He expected what we saw a few weeks later in Venezuela: Washington said that from now on the American continent should be under its control.

They called it the Monroe Doctrine (now changed by the president himself to the Donroe Doctrine, after Donald who inspired it), which understood that the best thing is to divide the world and make clear boundaries of influence: America for the United States, Asia for China ...

For the moment, the United States' strategy is modifying its relationship with Europe: Trump himself has spoken of economic competition and states in writing that he is only interested in what he calls "patriotic" countries, that is to say countries with far-right governments, and that he will work so that this type of party can come to power in as many countries as possible.

According to this strategy, for Trump and his followers, Europe is a "civilization at risk" that needs to be saved from its own demographic shift, especially from immigration and regulatory drift. Washington tells us that they are no longer the guarantor of European security, and they openly question the structure of the community because it "depletes sovereignty" and stifles over-regulating countries. Therefore, the Americans prefer to deal with what they consider to be "healthy countries" in Europe (Orbán's Hungary,Meloni's Italy… or for short with those that are or have moved to the extreme right).

Trump's movement, which leads the world's largest military force, seems able to free itself from the burden of the war in Ukraine (the resolution of which he will leave to the Europeans) to devote itself to the priority that really worries Americans: the competition with China in the Pacific.

As I said, the clearest example of the new strategy is not a ruse, the arrest and removal of Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd, a true geopolitical disaster and certainly the death certificate of international law, as we all know.

The evidence is clear that Maduro does not like my sympathies, and freeing political prisoners is good for all intents and purposes, but the unilateral decision of the United States to enter by force, arrest Maduro, first, and maintain the entire regime in exchange for oil control, later, is cruelty and an attack on international legitimacy.

In this whole game, my complaint is that the behavior of the president of North America has opened the way for everyone who thinks of the world as the Wild West: ignoring the United Nations, denigrating NATO by saying that Greenland unilaterally sends a clear message, especially to the Europeans.We are allies, yes, but if you don't give me Greenland we will be enemies.Let's see how the European Union reacts.

Reading the US National Security Strategy completely amazed me: the report talks so much about what it says and what it leaves out, and Africa barely comes up.So this omission is also a clear message: a profound lack of interest in any aspect of the continent except its mineral wealth. This is demonstrated by America's suspension of basic engagement. Do it in humanitarian aid. which has a direct and measurable impact on the health of the world.

You just have to notice that the intervention of North America in Africa, these days, occurs in countries with a lot of oil (Nigeria, under the suspicion of protecting Christians from the attacks of the Islamic State) and geopolitically determined (Somalia, in the Horn of Africa), while the need to support the Lobito corridor (Angola) continues to control the exit for minerals.

Africans are clearly reading the North American policy. This mainly explains the fierce condemnation (from the African Union to groups of countries like ECOWAS) of the North American group in Venezuela as a violation of international law. For example, the president of South Africa said that the decision of North America marks a return to the instability similar to before the world wars. If the United States is able to remove the President from his own territory, there is nothing to protect small countries from the violence used inunit without international support.

So this decision confirms what Africans have been saying for some time: this is the time they have different partners without choosing any one.As a result, China's work is growing, but also the growing power of Türkiye or the Arab Kingdom.Diversification, which is called wealth.

But what I remember from reading the US National Security Strategy is that Spain has a national security law and it should be in line with the geopolitical changes that are happening now.Memory takes me back to the work sessions during the 10th Legislature (2011-2015), when the national security law was debated.

In this process, José Enrique Serrano and I were the speakers of the project of the socialist group at a time when the PP was in power, and therefore the socialists were a minority in Congress.Law No. 36 of 2015 defined that ensuring national security is a state policy to be followed by the President of the Government with the participation of all management and society.

This law establishes that the strategy of the National Security works as a political-strategic system and must include aspects such as environmental analysis, the risks that may occur in Spain, activities and the improvement of resources.

Apparently, the law itself contemplates the need to analyze and develop national security strategies that must continue to be updated based on changes in the world, and the Spanish government has followed this line of updating.It did so, for example, with the renewal published on December 31, 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, given events such as tensions in Gaza, Ukraine, NATO or the withdrawal of the United States from international organizations, it is logical to think about a new adjustment.The geopolitical shift is profound and Spain should be very clear about what the rules of the game are, as is the case now with this disregard for international legitimacy, with one of the players believing that a referee is not needed.

Because, in a rapidly fragmenting world, Spain needs to use national security legislation as the main legal tool to protect its interests and restore its global position.The international order was a map with clear and patrolled routes, and today that map is burning in our hands.As the superpowers try to fence their gardens, Africa's compass will play a crucial role in navigating the burning storm of national security.Spain must ensure that the law is calibrated.

Therefore, it is advisable to adapt the National Security Strategy to take into account the new circumstances.

* CEO of Casa Africa

and a former Socialist member of Congress