– CIMSEC – It is an oft-repeated axiom of international law that vessels which serve as auxiliaries to a state’s armed forces may not lawfully commit a belligerent act in an international armed conflict.

– National Interest – If the U.S. Navy projects a slovenly appearance while, say, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy shows up in a foreign harbor looking spick-and-span, guess who seems like the trustworthy friend and fearsome foe? Advantage: China.

– War Zone – It’s easy to overlook the WALL-E-looking turret atop these ships, but it provides key targeting and situational awareness information to the crew.

– CIMSEC – While the rest of the fleet is shifting to the high-end fight, it’s time for the CNO to radically change the ways the Navy sources, trains, equips, and sends out reserve Sailors to sea-going mobilizations.

– CIMSEC – To become more competitive in the new geopolitical reality the U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations can enhance the U.S. Navy’s relationship with the small and medium-sized navies of the “Third Border.” The U.S. Strategy for Engagement in the Caribbean names as the “Third Border” 26 countries that are part of the Great Caribbean Region.

– CIMSEC – Every day, the majority of the U.S. Navy is spending its time on shore duty.

– CIMSEC – For all the talk of being in great power competition, the OPNAV staff is not acting like it…Meanwhile, our adversaries are outpacing us in many areas.

– CIMSEC – Our Navy Reserve is crying out for attention. However, high retention may lull Navy leaders into thinking the system is working and Sailors are well-cared for, when in reality they are gritting their teeth to make it to 20 years of service.

– CIMSEC – Right now, the U.S Navy is suffering under a suffocating personnel and administrative structure.

– CIMSEC – Senior leaders in the Navy are currently working with a partial dataset, one that is missing an untapped information source: aggregated input from junior personnel.

– Breaking Defense – Two Navy warships that left port in Virginia earlier this month have sprinted north, and are currently operating in the Arctic in an ambitious test of the Navy’s desire to deploy faster, leaner, and with more flexibility.

– CIMSEC – Restoring authority and accountability will quickly solve the most pressing of our material, personnel, and joint/combined operational issues and inculcate a culture of innovation.

– CIMSEC – A strategic resource is one for which states compete…

– CIMSEC – An indispensable component of any fleet of the future is its undersea warfare capability. The ability to prosecute anti-surface warfare and sea denial through submarine employment in contested areas of the global commons is critical.

– War Zone – Air Force F-16s look set to be the only other U.S. fighter jets to reach this goal, which former Secretary of Defense Mattis laid out last year.

– War Zone – The antique ship has an odd way of doing its business, but it’s still one of the best assets for supplying Marines with gobs of fuel ashore.

– CIMSEC – The CNO, having been a previous commander of U.S. Tenth Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command, should instill this same principle into his Sailors with a new creed, “Every Sailor a cyber warrior.”

– CIMSEC – The question is not “would the U.S. Navy run out of fuel in a fight with China?”, but how quickly. We are talking weeks, if that.

– CIMSEC – The new CNO should reestablish the SSG to develop a new generation of strategists and operational concepts for Navy and Marine Corps warfighting.

– CIMSEC – Now is the time to accelerate the learning process and leverage the benefits of circadian watches and crew endurance policies into a Navy-wide mindset that values and prioritizes personal readiness.

– CIMSEC – Undersea warfare is entering an era of profound transformation due to the increasing sophistication and proliferation of unmanned systems.

– CIMSEC – A lot has been written about the troubles of the U.S. Navy’s surface force, but two underlying institutional problems have not been fully addressed. The failure to address these flaws promises that the U.S. Navy’s surface force will continue to risk generating less capable Sailors who are more risk averse and less tactically astute.

– War Zone – The U.S. Navy has reportedly deployed the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Nitze to the northern end of the Persian Gulf ostensibly to help shore up Saudi Arabian air defenses in the wake of unprecedented mass cruise missile and suicide drone attacks on sites critical to the country’s oil industry.

– Breaking Defense – The Navy is sending two high-altitude MQ-4C Triton drones to Guam on their first overseas deployment, placing the sophisticated surveillance platform deep within the Indo-Pacific at a time of rising tensions with China and stepped-up Navy patrols through the Taiwan Strait.

– USNI Proceedings – The first installment of Professor James Holmes’ new regular column “Strategy Matters”.