Brookings Institute: Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, Discussant

This discussion was held at the Brookings Institute, Washington, DC on January 28, 2019.  It was to include plans for the future and an assessment of its maritime current activities.

Now I know that the navy has an especial role in the conduct of a military theater and that it can take advantage of its particular geographical placement: on the seas, capable of reaching any earth-based land   Nor is its fire power constrained to the realm of water.  Its drones and planes hop around nimbly on land masses!  The Admiral admitted the US navy plans are limited to a 5-year cycle, after which is pause for assessment, I would surmise.

The navy's mission even in peacetime involves patrolling international sea lanes and cable networks under the oceans so to protect from threat of interference thus enabling commerce and trade.  At the meeting, questioners from the audience wondered about China's patrolling of the South China Seas, though the Admiral did not make specific comment on the issue of whether China was doing a responsibly good job.  Nor did the Admiral have some apparent comment regarding the Russian detainment of Ukrainian sailors and their ships on the open waters separating Ukraine from Crimea.  He did not take a clear position on whether NATO should have become involved after the seizure.

I came away from the presentation in a puzzling frame of mind regarding naval patrolling of international waters:  is the navy actively attempting to resolve issues of control of international water lanes?

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Note-taking of the discussion by Kyla Roberts, Catholic University Graduate Student
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The odyssey continues...about plans to assure that international waterways are being properly guarded--what could the US navy be doing amid all the shipping and transporting water lanes worldwide?          

The Russians have apparently taken over a port-city in Syria for their own use in warm-water.  They are also anticipating China to build a deep-sea port for them in the Crimea.    Meanwhile, China is developing  military installations  in the South China Seas. Even more surprising, England, which once ruled the seas, is now going independent from the EU, perhaps a move to reclaim itself as the  major sea power in the world?