WASHINGTON DC – In a year when even routine defense policy has been pulled into the gravitational force of US politics, the National Defense Authorization Act – or NDAA – has morphed from a must-pass annual ritual into a sprawling manifesto.
The bill, released Sunday night, doubles as both a hard-edged Europe strategy and a showcase of lawmakers’ efforts to cement President Donald Trump’s “Peace Through Strength” agenda into statute.
From deterring Russia on NATO’s most fragile frontier to scrubbing “woke ideology” from Pentagon programs, this year’s bill is a split-screen snapshot of a Congress legislating foreign policy and cultural politics in the same breath.
Europe strategy written in permanent ink
Lawmakers have taken the war in Ukraine – and Russia’s slow-motion military reconstitution – as an invitation to legislate America’s long-term presence on the Continent.
The FY26 NDAA not only enshrines the Baltic Security Initiative as a mandatory Pentagon program but also tightens Congress’ grip on US force posture in Europe in ways rarely seen outside a crisis.
The bill directs the Secretary of Defense and US European Command to “deepen security cooperation” with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – transforming a patchwork of assistance efforts into a statutory mission to implement NATO’s Strategic Concept and deter Russian aggression.
In practical terms, the ad-hoc scramble of the early Ukraine war days is out; an institutionalized, long-horizon Baltic commitment is in.
And Congress didn’t stop there. In a sweeping assertion of authority over Pentagon basing decisions, the NDAA prohibits reducing US forces in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days, blocks EUCOM from returning or divesting real estate, and bars the removal of major equipment from the theater.
The bill even protects the prized dual-hatted role of EUCOM’s commander as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Taken together, it’s Congress putting the Pentagon’s Europe strategy into a box – and dead-bolting it.
Global look at Moscow’s rebuild
The NDAA also orders an unprecedented intelligence deep dive into Russia’s military recovery.
Lawmakers want real-time assessments of whether the Kremlin can rebuild beyond its 2022 force levels, how sanctions are actually biting, and what Moscow has learned – tactically and doctrinally – from its war in Ukraine.
The inquiry expands outward, demanding analysis of Russia’s growing ties with China and North Korea, including defense trade, joint operations, and intelligence-sharing.
The message is clear: In Congress’ eyes, US strategy can no longer treat Russia as a purely European problem.
Domestic politics never far away
The NDAA’s national-security provisions share space with a flurry of Trump-era cultural and ideological planks championed by House GOP leadership. Speaker Johnson, in a triumphant statement, framed the bill as a direct extension of the president’s ongoing agenda:
“This year’s NDAA helps advance President Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos,” he wrote.
Johnson touted the measure’s elimination of DEI, CRT, and climate programs, a ban on Pentagon contracts with firms conservatives accuse of blacklisting right-leaning media, and guardrails designed to curb US investment exposure to China.
The bill also includes a 4 percent enlisted pay raise, expanded counter-drone capabilities, boosts to nuclear modernization, support for shipbuilding, and enhanced National Guard deployment authorities at the southwest border.
If the NDAA reaches President Trump’s desk largely intact, Congress will have baked a Europe-first strategy into US law, constrained the Pentagon’s flexibility for years, and rewritten the playbook for competition with Russia and China – all while advancing the GOP’s domestic agenda inside the military.
This year’s NDAA is not just a defense bill. It’s a political document, a strategic pivot, and an ideological billboard – all wrapped into a must-pass package Congress is eager to deliver to the White House.
In classic Washington fashion, it delivers a simple message in a very complicated way: the US isn’t pulling back. It’s doubling down – abroad, at the border, and inside the Pentagon itself.
(Kyiv post)