Think tank report urging U.S. exit from Asia alliances sparks
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
The Pentagon does not need another think tank report to know the Asian alliance network is expensive. But Jennifer Kavanagh's proposal to pull American forces back to the Second Island Chain and quietly dissolve pacts with Japan and South Korea has at least done something useful: it made everyone say the quiet part out loud. The quiet part is that **allies have gotten comfortable treating the U.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
A report by Defense Priorities senior fellow Jennifer Kavanagh, published in August, has ignited fierce debate across Indo-Pacific capitals by proposing that the United States withdraw its forces from the region's front lines to a more distant "Second Island Chain" and dismantle its network of Asian alliances.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
The Pentagon does not need another think tank report to know the Asian alliance network is expensive. But Jennifer Kavanagh's proposal to pull American forces back to the Second Island Chain and quietly dissolve pacts with Japan and South Korea has at least done something useful: it made everyone say the quiet part out loud.
The quiet part is that allies have gotten comfortable treating the U.S. military as a free insurance policy while running trade surpluses against us. Trump spent four years pressing that exact point. A report like this is a warning shot, not a policy roadmap. Dismantling alliances overnight would be reckless and would hand China a strategic gift. But pretending the existing arrangement can last forever without the allies paying a fair share is just as foolish.
What is striking is how quickly Indo-Pacific capitals panicked. They know the American security guarantee is the foundation of their own planning, yet most are happy to let American taxpayers carry the load. If that arrangement is so valuable, the price should reflect the value. It should not take a provocative report to get allies to finally start pulling their weight.
The best response to this debate is not to choose between endless commitments and a full retreat. It is to lean on allies the way Trump did: demand more burden-sharing, force hard conversations, and make sure every deployment is justified by actual national interest, not habit. Kavanagh's report goes too far. But the panic it produced proves her underlying question is worth asking.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.