This virtual event is open to the general public. Advance registration is required, please see link below to register.
"The Maritime Strategy of the 1980s: History Looks Ahead" is the third in the Bridging the Straits conference series. It will begin at 2 PM on Tuesday, March 30, and 9 AM on Wednesday, March 31. Please follow the link below for the daily agenda and to register your attendance.
In January 1986, Admiral James D. Watkins publicly announced what became known as “The Maritime Strategy” in a US Naval Institute Proceedings article. Thirty-five years after the official announcement, it is time to revisit the history and impact of 1980s' strategy. Why? Because the United States is once again facing a near-peer competitor in the challenge for global leadership. It is thus the responsibility of navalists and national security scholars to help sort through the claims of proponents of the US Navy about the Maritime Strategy. It will also help to assess the utility of service-level strategic documents, how those service visions serve national needs, and whether the USN will rally around its new tri-service strategy, Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All Domain Naval Power.
Officers, both retired and active duty, not to mention navalists, often invoke the 1980s strategy as a model for what is required as the nation faces the rise of great powers with global maritime ambitions. Many naval officers and their supporters have not been entirely pleased with the strategic visions issued since 1986. Among the criticism are that the strategies do not present a unifying vision that the public, Congress, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense can rally behind because they improperly specify the geostrategic challenges or ways in which the US Navy should contribute to US national security priorities, or because they fail to resonate inside the sea services. For outside observers, it is sometimes difficult to determine which dimensions of the strategies are the product of the parochial naval service concerns and which are genuine concerns for US national security writ large.
This event will help strategists, scholars, and analysts answer key questions including:
- What has been the impact of the 1980s strategy and strategic development process on more recent strategies including the Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century Seapower, the revised Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century Seapower, and Advantage at Sea?
- How, if at all, did American adversaries, allies, and partners respond to the 1980s “Maritime Strategy?”
Featured Speakers & Moderators
RDML Tom Williams (N51), Janine Davidson (former Undersecretary of the Navy), Peter Swartz, Mitch Brown, Sebastian Bruns, Jonathan Caverley, Tom Culora, Matthew Culp, James Goldrick, Peter Haynes, Kate Higgins-Bloom, Colin Jackson, Bryan McGrath, Ken McGruther, Narushige Michishita, Alexey Muraviev, Alessio Patalano, Nicholas Prime, David Rosenberg, Bruce Stubbs, Robb Sucher, Caitlin Talmadge, Sam Tangredi, Geoffrey Till, and Steve Wills.
Register For the Virtual Event
Advance registration is required. Register in advance for this webinar: https://usnwc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QXROiXsZSjiNPcERh85P2w