Both traditional and unconventional threats increasingly shape U.S. security priorities;however, tracking these evolving priorities over time remains challenging. The infrequently published—and often highly politicized—conventional public security strategy documents fail to capture these real-time changes accurately. Therefore, to gain a systematic understanding of U.S. security priorities, it’s imperative to identify and evaluate more concrete, action-oriented sources. One potential source, Transnational Security Cooperation Agreements (TSCAs), fit these criteria well by providing a credible reflection of U.S. security strategies through legally binding commitments and threat-specific language. This study examines the language used within these agreements, revealing that post-2000, intelligence and information sharing have become dominant U.S. security priorities. This indicates a strategic shift towards addressing threats through the collection and dissemination of data between partner states. Employing a combination of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and network analysis techniques, six key security priorities over the past four decades are identified: organized crime, terrorism, intelligence gathering and exchange, general security matters, drug production and trafficking, and research and technology development. Beyond uncovering these central security foci, the analysis highlights the evolution of these priorities, detecting a significant emphasis on the importance of intelligence sharing and technological cooperation in the 21st century. This methodological approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of the evolution of U.S. security priorities and offers valuable insights into the changing dynamics of global security. Moreover, this study showcases the feasibility of a novel empirical framework designed to assess state security priorities through the language of international agreements.