The Trump administration's new National Security Strategy has altered how the U.S. conducts itself to protect Americans — and with major influence from Stephen Miller, it has shifted a major focus on how it views its relationship with China and Russia instead of new threats from the countries.
Trump's inner circle has shifted its attention to "preparing for the wrong dangers and in denial about genuine threats," according to a new report published Monday in The Atlantic, written by Thomas Wright, senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council during the Biden administration.
Wright described why the U.S. relationship with China has changed.
"With an operation by a group that the U.S. government labeled Salt Typhoon, China has compromised U.S. telecommunications networks and can now listen to calls or read text messages by any American it chooses. If you feel like your communications might be of interest to the Chinese Communist Party, you should be using only encrypted apps for messaging and calls," Wright wrote.
Under another operation, Volt Typhoon, China has reportedly penetrated water-supply plans, electricity grids, and transportation, Wright explained. If a war breaks out between the two countries, the results could be a destructive cyberattack on American infrastructure.
Threats from Russia also loom, he added.
"Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2025 threat assessment, Russia 'is developing a new satellite meant to carry a nuclear weapon as an antisatellite capability,' which, if detonated, 'could cause devastating consequences for the United States, the global economy, and the world in general,'" Wright wrote.
Wright cited that the Trump administration has shown an interest in "building an illiberal world order" and "less concern for the American homeland."
At the center of that change is Stephen Miller, the Trump administration's immigrant policy architect and Homeland Security advisor.
"None of these direct threats to the American homeland are even mentioned in Trump’s NSS. The strategy therefore does not explain what the government, Congress, and the private sector should do to fix these vulnerabilities. Instead, it makes one general reference to the need for 'a resilient national infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters' and 'resist and thwart foreign threats,'" Wright added.
"This neglect is reflected in the administration’s actions," he explained. "Last week, the Financial Timesreported that the Trump administration, intent on smoothing the way for a state visit to China in April 2026, drew back its plan to impose sanctions on China’s Ministry of State Security over its cyberattacks on the telecommunications system. The story named Stephen Miller—the White House homeland-security adviser, of all things—as responsible for ensuring that no actions are taken that could threaten U.S.-China détente."