Center for International Maritime Security Fostering the Discussion on Securing the Seas.
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Sink the Kill Chain: A Navy Space Guide to Protecting Ships and Sailorsby Guest Author on 23 September 2025 at 11:00 am
Notes to the New CNO Series By Alan Brechbill Admiral Caudle’s first message to the fleet outlined three priorities: the Foundry; the Fleet and the way we Fight. These priorities cannot be realized without acknowledging the simple fact that the next war at sea will be decided first in space. Ships and Sailors operating inside … Continue reading Sink the Kill Chain: A Navy Space Guide to Protecting Ships and Sailors →
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Accelerate Human-Machine Teaming in the Maritime Operations Centerby Guest Author on 23 September 2025 at 10:30 am
Notes to the New CNO Series By Michael Posey To maintain maritime superiority in this era of trans-regional, multi-domain warfare, the Navy must accelerate human-machine teaming within Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs). Our adversaries, including our pacing challenge, China, invest heavily in adopting AI technology, a consequential technology for command and control. MOCs serve as the … Continue reading Accelerate Human-Machine Teaming in the Maritime Operations Center →
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Change the Navy’s Narrative: The Future Fight and the Hybrid Fleetby Guest Author on 23 September 2025 at 10:00 am
Notes to the New CNO Series By Peter Dombrowski With Admiral Caudle assuming the post of Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy has a timely opportunity to realign its strategic narrative with its emerging operational reality, especially in the Indo-Pacific. After years of experimentation with distributed maritime operations, integration of unmanned systems, and renewed industrial … Continue reading Change the Navy’s Narrative: The Future Fight and the Hybrid Fleet →
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Sir, Be Radicalby Guest Author on 22 September 2025 at 10:00 am
Notes to the New CNO Series By Chris Rielage Navy thinkers have already laid the intellectual groundwork for aggressive change. Senior leaders now need to follow through with equally radical actions. It has been just under two years since the last Call for Notes to the New CNO, written for Admiral Lisa Franchetti – and … Continue reading Sir, Be Radical →
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Notes to the New CNO Series Kicks Off on CIMSECby Dmitry Filipoff on 22 September 2025 at 9:30 am
By Dmitry Filipoff For the next two weeks, CIMSEC will be featuring short notes submitted to our Call for Notes to the New CNO. In this special series, authors convey their thoughts on what they believe are the most pressing issues for the U.S. Navy’s new top leader, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle. … Continue reading Notes to the New CNO Series Kicks Off on CIMSEC →
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Sea Control 586: What Moral Leadership Looks Like with William Spearsby Guest Author on 18 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Brian Kerg Commander William Spears, U.S. Navy, joins the program to discuss his article, “What Moral Leadership Looks Like,” which examines the philosophical approach of Admiral Stockdale during his time as a POW in North Vietnam. Commander William C. Spears is a submarine warfare officer in the U.S. Navy and the author of Stoicism as … Continue reading Sea Control 586: What Moral Leadership Looks Like with William Spears →
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Call for Articles: Short Story Fictionby Dmitry Filipoff on 15 September 2025 at 10:00 am
Stories Due: November 10, 2025 Week Dates: December 1-5, 2025 Story Length: 1,5000-3,000 Words Submit to: [email protected] By Dmitry Filipoff In annual tradition, CIMSEC will be running a series of short stories looking to explore the nature of conflict and competition through fiction. Fiction has long served as a powerful means for exploring hypotheticals and envisioning … Continue reading Call for Articles: Short Story Fiction →
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It is Time for Naval Mines to Enter the Missile Ageby Guest Author on 10 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Benjamin Massengale Introduction Much has been written over the last two decades about how cost-effective naval mine warfare can be for the U.S. Navy in great power war. Mines have demonstrated their utility in the Ukraine conflict by both deterring Russia from executing amphibious landings and interfering with Ukrainian grain exports. China has repeatedly … Continue reading It is Time for Naval Mines to Enter the Missile Age →
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Countering the People’s Republic of China’s Maritime Insurgency in the South Pacificby Guest Author on 9 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Jason Lancaster Guadalcanal, the Coral Sea, Tarawa, New Guinea, and Iron Bottom Sound highlight the strategic location of the South Pacific during the Second World War. Today, U.S. and allied preeminence in this vital region is under threat. The People’s Republic of China (PRC,) through a sophisticated blend of economic inducements, political influence, and … Continue reading Countering the People’s Republic of China’s Maritime Insurgency in the South Pacific →
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Design, Decide, Forget: Why the Navy Needs a Lessons-Learned Center for Shipbuildingby Guest Author on 8 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Marcus Jones In March 2025 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Ronald O’Rourke, naval analyst for the Congressional Research Service since 1984, sharpened an excellent recommendation he has raised over more than a decade: the U.S. Navy should establish a dedicated institutional mechanism for systematically capturing, analyzing, and … Continue reading Design, Decide, Forget: Why the Navy Needs a Lessons-Learned Center for Shipbuilding →
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Sea Control 585: Imperial Germany and China’s Basing Ambitions with Chuck Ridgwayby Jonathan Selling on 6 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Jonathan Selling Retired USN Commander Chuck Ridgway joins the podcast to discuss his article “What Imperial Germany Teaches About China’s Naval Basing Ambitions,” which appeared in the May issue of Proceedings. Commander Ridgway is a retired U.S. Navy surface warfare and a reserve Africa foreign area officer. After leaving active duty, he worked for … Continue reading Sea Control 585: Imperial Germany and China’s Basing Ambitions with Chuck Ridgway →
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Call for NavyCon 2025 Presentations: The Influence of Navies on Science Fiction, NASA, and Spaceby Claude Berube on 5 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Claude Berube Proposals Due: September 22, 2025 Virtual Event Date: December 6, 2025 Presentation Length: 15 minutes Submit to: [email protected] Navies have had a major influence on science fiction for decades. From the fleets of Star Trek and Star Wars, to the warships of Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse, naval power has often been used … Continue reading Call for NavyCon 2025 Presentations: The Influence of Navies on Science Fiction, NASA, and Space →
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U.S. Naval Academy Admissions and the Meritocracy Idealby Guest Author on 4 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Bill Bray In July 1944, at the height of the greatest naval war in human history and arguably the U.S. Navy’s finest hour, a Secretary of the Navy “Board to Study the Methods of Educating Naval Officers” concluded that the process to award appointments to the U.S. Naval Academy was failing to produce “the … Continue reading U.S. Naval Academy Admissions and the Meritocracy Ideal →
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Reprioritize SWO Tactical Qualifications for the High-End Fightby Guest Author on 3 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Seth Breen As the U.S. Navy pivots toward preparing for high-end maritime conflict, the SWO community must ask itself a difficult question – Are we allocating our limited time to develop the warfighters we need, or are we clinging to legacy requirements that no longer align with the modern threat environment? Train for the … Continue reading Reprioritize SWO Tactical Qualifications for the High-End Fight →
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It’s Time to Invite Taiwan to RIMPACby Guest Author on 2 September 2025 at 10:00 am
By Jim Halsell The Taiwan Strait remains one of the most volatile flashpoints in the world. With the People’s Republic of China (PRC) accelerating its coercive behavior aimed at “reunifying” Taiwan with the mainland, the United States must adopt a clearer, more deliberate strategy to bolster deterrence and reassure regional partners. One measure that should … Continue reading It’s Time to Invite Taiwan to RIMPAC →
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Call for Notes to the New CNOby Dmitry Filipoff on 26 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Dmitry Filipoff Submissions Due: September 12, 2025 Week Dates: September 22-26, 2025 Submission Length: 500 words Submit to: [email protected] In 500 words or less, what do you want the new Chief of Naval Operations to know? CIMSEC is launching a special series featuring short articles that look to convey pressing points to the U.S. Navy’s … Continue reading Call for Notes to the New CNO →
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A System of Systems Analysis is Needed for Maritime Strikeby Guest Author on 21 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Dick Mosier The US military is expanding its inventory of long-range maritime strike missiles such as the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST), Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), Long-Range Anti-ship Missile (LRASM), and Naval Strike Missile (NSM). These capable weapons all have ranges well beyond the effective range of the sensor systems organic … Continue reading A System of Systems Analysis is Needed for Maritime Strike →
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Arsenal of Democracy: Myth or Model? Lessons for 21st-Century Industrial Mobilization Planningby Guest Author on 20 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Tyler Hacker The following article is adapted from a new report by Tyler Hacker at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), Arsenal of Democracy: Myth or Model? Lessons for 21st-Century Industrial Mobilization Planning. As conflicts from Europe to the Middle East draw on U.S. munition stocks, many of which are already insufficient … Continue reading Arsenal of Democracy: Myth or Model? Lessons for 21st-Century Industrial Mobilization Planning →
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Bringing Command and Accountability Back to Surface Fleet Maintenanceby Guest Author on 19 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Capt. John Cordle, USN (ret.) and Capt. Holman Agard, USN There are times when “the way things are” are no longer acceptable. Radical change, with incremental and careful execution, is urgently needed within the US Navy’s Surface Ship Repair Maintenance enterprise to rectify the shortcomings of two decades of well-intentioned initiatives that rendered a … Continue reading Bringing Command and Accountability Back to Surface Fleet Maintenance →
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Sea Control 584: Wargaming in the Pacific with Chris Denzel and Sebastian Baeby Guest Author on 15 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Brian Kerg Major Chris Denzel of the United States Marine Corps and Mr. Sebastian Bae of the Center for Naval Analyses to discuss their experience supporting wargaming in the Pacific, specifically in support of bilateral wargames involving the U.S. and Japan. Chris Denzel is an intelligence officer and operational planner. He is currently serving … Continue reading Sea Control 584: Wargaming in the Pacific with Chris Denzel and Sebastian Bae →
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Sea Control 583: Shaping the Blue Dragon with Ronald Poby Jonathan Selling on 14 August 2025 at 10:00 am
By Jonathan Selling Professor Ronald Po joins Jonathan to discuss his new book, Shaping the Blue Dragon: Maritime China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which covers the maritime policies of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Download Sea Control 583: Shaping the Blue Dragon with Ronald Po Links 1. Dr Ronald C. Po profile. 2. Shaping … Continue reading Sea Control 583: Shaping the Blue Dragon with Ronald Po →
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What Moral Leadership Looks Likeby Guest Author on 16 July 2025 at 10:00 am
By William C. Spears It has been twenty years since the passing of Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale, a celebrated American leader and moralist whose heroic example continues to inspire new generations. Stockdale’s story is commonly regarded at a surface level, reduced to that told in his citation for the Congressional Medal of Honor. The simplified … Continue reading What Moral Leadership Looks Like →
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Sea Control 582: Guns, Ships and Moneyby Guest Author on 13 July 2025 at 6:40 pm
By J. Overton Daniel Banks joins the show to talk about this writing and research into the logistics networks with host J. Overton. Banks focuses on the maritime and naval networks that helped Guiseppe Garibaldi succeed in the reunification of Italy in 1860. Daniel Banks is a postdoctoral fellow in Global History and Governance at … Continue reading Sea Control 582: Guns, Ships and Money →
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Sea Control 581: The MLR’s Missing Linkby Guest Author on 6 July 2025 at 3:39 am
By Brian Kerg Captains Brendan Costello and Tyler Muniz of the United States Marine Corps join Brian to discuss their article, “The Marine Littoral Regiment’s Missing Link,” published in the Marine Corps Gazette. Download Sea Control 518 Notes Brendan Costello and Tyler Muniz, “The Marine Littoral Regiment’s Missing Link,” Marine Corps Gazette (15 August, 2024) … Continue reading Sea Control 581: The MLR’s Missing Link →
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Sea Control 580: Building Resilient Kill Chainsby Guest Author on 1 July 2025 at 7:15 am
By Brian Kerg Majors Aaron Barlow, Sean Harper and Captain Patrick Reilly join Brian on the podcast to discuss their article for CIMSEC, “Building Resilient Kill Chains for the Stand in Force.” Download Sea Control 580: Building Resilient Kill Chains Links 1. Aaron Barlow, Patrick Reilly, and Sean Harper, “Building Resilient Kill Chains for the … Continue reading Sea Control 580: Building Resilient Kill Chains →
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Why the U.S. Should Support South Korea’s Naval Expansionby Guest Author on 27 June 2025 at 12:00 pm
By Ju Hyung Kim When people think about the U.S.-ROK alliance, they often envision the Korean Peninsula: joint ground drills, combined air exercises, and the perennial challenge of deterring a North Korean invasion. But the next chapter of this alliance is unfolding at sea. With the U.S. Navy stretched across multiple theaters—from the Mediterranean to … Continue reading Why the U.S. Should Support South Korea’s Naval Expansion →
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Sea Control 579: Partnering for Conflict in the Western Pacificby Guest Author on 25 June 2025 at 10:00 am
By Brian Kerg Major Ben Van Horrick and LtCol Scott ‘Chuck’ Blyleven of the United States Marine Corps join the program to discuss the article, “Partnering Will Determine the First Days of Conflict in the Western Pacific.” Download Sea Control 579: Partnering for Conflict in the Western Pacific Links 1. “Partnering Will Determine the First … Continue reading Sea Control 579: Partnering for Conflict in the Western Pacific →
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Exposed Undersea: PLA Navy Officer Reflections on China’s Not-So-Silent Serviceby Guest Author on 24 June 2025 at 10:00 am
By Ryan D. Martinson While much of the international attention on China’s naval buildup is focused on its rapidly modernizing surface fleet, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is also taking bold steps to field a first-rate submarine force. By the end of this year, the service could have as many as 25 Yuan-class submarines, … Continue reading Exposed Undersea: PLA Navy Officer Reflections on China’s Not-So-Silent Service →
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Sea Control 578: Chinese Amphibious Warfare with Andrew Ericksonby Guest Author on 23 June 2025 at 10:30 am
By Brian Kerg Naval War College Professor of Strategy Andrew Erickson joins the program to talk about his recent book, Chinese Amphibious Warfare, the most current and authoritative assessment of PLA amphibious capabilities. Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is Professor of Strategy (tenured full professor) in the U.S. Naval War College (NWC)’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). … Continue reading Sea Control 578: Chinese Amphibious Warfare with Andrew Erickson →
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African Maritime Forces Week Concludes on CIMSECby Dmitry Filipoff on 23 June 2025 at 10:00 am
By Dmitry Filipoff From June 16-20, CIMSEC featured a series of articles written for the African Maritime Forces Summit (AMFS) 2025. The summit, hosted in Mauritius from June 23-26, addresses African regional maritime security through the lens of the Western Indian Ocean. AMFS seeks to enhance regional maritime security by convening key maritime leaders to … Continue reading African Maritime Forces Week Concludes on CIMSEC →