Center for International Maritime Security

A Surfacing Strategy: Chinese Unconventional Oceanic Warfare

This article will analyze these unconventional methods, focusing centrally on China’s evolving systems and strategies, while ...
Center for International Maritime Security

The Mother of All Cutters

The United States Navy seeks to prevail over a potential Chinese military threat before 2027 as the naval component of a joint force. 1 Passing through the “Davidson Window” of China’s maximum ...
Opinion
Center for International Maritime SecurityOpinion

Tag, You’re It: Modernizing Naval Maintenance Starts with the Tagout Process

Sonar Technician 3 rd Class Timothe Sanders was found dead onboard the in-port USS Helena after inadvertently touching an energized 440 Volt electrical panel improperly returned to service following a ...
Center for International Maritime Security

The Surface Navy in an AI World: Rethinking the FFX

No one disagrees that the Navy has not had much luck constructing warships this century. It also continues to face significant challenges when building the next small surface combatant, the Future ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Elemental Leverage: How the United States Can Stop China’s Rare-Earths Squeeze Before the Next Crisis

When China threatens to close its fist, the world listens. In August 2025, Li Chenggang, Beijing’s chief trade negotiator, didn’t bother with euphemism. If the United States continued tightening ...
Center for International Maritime Security

From the Paracels to the Far Seas: How China Closed Their Maritime Medical Platform Gap

In January 1974, in the tail end of the Vietnam War, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Republic of Vietnam Navy briefly clashed over control of the Paracel Islands in what became known in ...
Center for International Maritime Security

The Looming Armageddon of The U.S. Military’s New Anti-Beard Policy

There is an episode of Star Trek (S1:E2) that has always chilled me to the bone, called “Armageddon”. The premise is that wars are too costly, so they are gamed out using a computer simulation.
Center for International Maritime Security

The Armyfication of the Navy

The United States Navy has set a course that will see it morph into an army on the sea. The differentiating factors between the sea services and its landbound compatriots are fast eroding, diminishing ...
Center for International Maritime Security

The Human Element of Sea Power: Ports, People, and Presence in the South China Sea

American maritime strategy in the South China Sea often starts by counting ships. Planners must keep enough hulls forward to contest Beijing’s constant pressure and its excessive maritime claims. The ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Contesting the Littoral Terrain: The Iran War and the Military Solution to Chokepoint Warfare

The U.S.-Iran war has provided an operational test of American maritime power. Despite assembling a formidable naval force, conducting extensive strike campaigns and achieving consistent tactical ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Asymmetric Spending: Taiwan’s Opportunities to Defend Against Economic Warfare

Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz offer a timely reminder that economic warfare at sea rarely resembles the clean, declared naval cordons of the past. Blocking commercial shipping from transiting ...
Center for International Maritime Security

New Organization, New Rules: Information Warfare Can Thrive in the New OPNAV

Working afloat and ashore, the U.S. Navy’s Information Warfare Officers engage adversaries, create plans, connect circuits, and drive operations around the world every day. In May 2026, the ...