Heritage Foundation

Trump nominates Brent Sadler to be next Maritime Administrator

While the exact details of President Trump’s plans for the expansion of U.S. shipbuilding and U.S.-flag shipping won’t be known until the publication of a much-anticipated Executive Order, what’s certain is that the next Maritime Administrator will have a key role in implementing them. The President’s pick for the position is retired submariner Brent Sadler.

Sadler, a retired U.S. Navy captain, is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, which issued this statement:

“Brent joined...

https://www.marinelog.com/news/trump-nominates-brent-sadler-to-be-next-maritime-administrator/

Security specialist nominated to lead US maritime agency

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has nominated an ex-naval officer and staunch advocate for rebuilding the country’s maritime capabilities to be administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration, according to Senate documents filed on Monday.

Maritime Administration nominee Brent Sadler. Credit: Heritage Foundation

Brent Sadler, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, has been chosen to head the agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation responsible for...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/security-specialist-nominated-to-lead-us-maritime-agency

Beijing Investing in Network of Global Chinese Naval Bases, Researchers Find

Chinese sailors at the People’s Liberation Army Navy base in Djibouti in 2019. Xinhua Photo

A team of researchers have identified likely locations of future Chinese naval bases not only in the Indo-Pacific but as far away as the Atlantic coast of Africa.

China invested in a “whole swath of ports” through its decade-old Belt and Road Initiative, but it is not clear which one will be used for a future naval base, said Alexander Wooley, one of the study’s authors and director of partnerships and...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/16/beijing-investing-in-network-of-global-chinese-naval-bases-researchers-find

Island Nations Key to U.S. Maintaining Position as Pacific Power

USS Benfold (DDG-65) is at anchor off Koror, Republic of Palau in 2012. US Navy Photo

This post has been updated to correct that Yun was speaking at the Hudson Institute on Friday.

The Freely Associated States lying between Hawaii and the Philippines are crucial to the United States remaining a Pacific power, the special envoy to these three island nations said Friday.

To China, the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia “are the Second Island chain”...

https://news.usni.org/2023/04/28/island-nations-key-to-u-s-maintaining-position-as-pacific-power

Panel: China Planning a ‘Go Big, Go Early’ Strategy Against Taiwan

While it’s unclear what lessons Chinese military planners are learning from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they learned to “go big and go early” from America’s quick victory in the first Gulf War, a panel of defense analysts agreed Thursday.

It’s a strategy the Chinese could use against Taiwan.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said if the Chinese don’t win early on they’ll see their cross-strait invasion become “very messy, very quickly.” He added it would “become a slog,” as...

https://news.usni.org/2022/04/14/panel-china-planning-a-go-big-go-early-strategy-against-taiwan

Coast Guard Struggling with Southern California ‘Costal Awareness Gap’ as Maritime Smuggling Rises

A crew member from the Coast Guard Cutter Munro stands watch over seized contraband during a drug offload from the cutter in Alameda, California, March 23, 2021. US Coast Guard Photo

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Grappling with a rise in maritime smuggling in recent years off Southern California, Coast Guard Sector San Diego officials have reached out to the tech industry for ideas and products that will close gaps in and expand maritime domain awareness.

“We’ve faced a major increase in smuggling,” Capt....

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/17/coast-guard-struggling-with-southern-california-costal-awareness-gap-as-maritime-smuggling-rises

Top Stories 2021: Coast Guard

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz speaks to the attendees at the commissioning of the USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC-1145) in Philadelphia on Oct. 15, 2021. Coast Guard Photo

This post is part of a series looking back at the top naval stories from 2021.

The past year saw a shift in the Coast Guard, as the maritime service focused on retention, its global presence and new partnerships with the Marines and the Navy.

In his third “State of the Coast Guard,” Adm. Karl Schultz spoke about the...

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/29/top-stories-2021-coast-guard

Mystery Shrouds Chinese Defense Spending

China’s Type-001A Carrier following its launching ceremony on April 26, 2017. Ministry of National Defense Photo

While China’s known military spending has remained consistent as a percentage of its gross domestic product for decades, but this provides only a rough measure of what Beijing has actually committed to a broad range of obscured or classified expenditures, two experts on defense spending said Tuesday.

Peter Robinson, dean of the University of Western Australia’s Business School, said...

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/26/mystery-shrouds-chinese-defense-spending

Biden Administration Should Make Guam’s Defense Center of Indo-Pacific Strategy, Expert Says

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) enters Apra Harbor prior to mooring at Naval Base Guam for a scheduled port visit on June 24, 2020. US Navy Photo

The defense of Guam should be the centerpiece of the Biden administration’s focus on countering threats from China in the Indo-Pacific, an expert on missile defense said Wednesday.

“Make the main thing the main thing,” Thomas Karako, director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. He stressed the island’s...

https://news.usni.org/2021/10/07/biden-administration-should-make-guams-defense-center-of-indo-pacific-strategy-expert-says

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