The newspaper quoted people involved in drafting the strategy saying: “They described a growing sense of frustration towards a plan they see as narrow-minded and possibly irrelevant, especially given the highly personal and sometimes contradictory approach the president takes in foreign policy.”

The paper added: “Military officials believe the new strategy overemphasizes domestic threats at the expense of global challenges, and they are particularly concerned about narrowing the competition with China to only the Taiwan issue, while Beijing is, in their view, undertaking a broad military modernization.”

According to two informed sources, the new strategy speech carries a “more partisan” tone and accuses former President Joe Biden’s administration of weakening the military.

The newspaper’s sources also pointed to concerns about the US Defense Secretary’s plan to restructure the armed forces, which is expected to include cuts of “800 generals and admirals overseeing the US armed forces.”

It was noted that the proportion of women among those dismissed so far is “disproportionately high,” raising further questions among critics of the new defense strategy.

It was previously announced that the Defense Secretary ordered an urgent meeting of hundreds of senior military leaders in Virginia without disclosing the meeting’s topic.