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Sullivan reviews Seablindness: How Political Neglect Is Choking American Seapower and What to Do about It by Seth Cropsey.
Seablindness: How Political Neglect Is Choking American Seapower and What to Do about It, by Seth Cropsey. New York: Encounter Books, 2017. 408 pages. $27.99.
In Seablindness, Seth Cropsey delivers a comprehensive examination of sea power and makes a compelling argument for the modernization and recapitalization of the U.S. Navy. To do so he analyzes the future security environment, the projected use and requirements of the Navy, and the current state of readiness within the sea services. Seablindness serves as a cautionary reminder to U.S. leadership and the American people regarding the mandate of sea power for maritime states. Cropsey provides short historical examples of the actions and decisions that led to the diminution of the power and influence of earlier powerful maritime states and the international and domestic consequences. These analogies provoke reflection on the current state of U.S. sea power.
Cropsey defines seablindness as a mindset under which great maritime powers "forget, neglect" or are "distracted" from the oceanic foundation of their commerce and security. It manifests its effects in national security policy and defense resource-allocation decisions that incrementally weaken the ability of the state to employ sea power, including its navy, in the promotion, protection, and defense of state interests. These policy and budget actions rarely are intended to diminish the capability or effectiveness of maritime forces; rather, the degradation is more an unintended consequence of seemingly unrelated policy actions or political objectives.
The author develops the urgency to make national security decisions and take action to remedy seablindness through a methodical and logical analysis of current and future maritime strategies, missions, operating concepts, and forces. This book is more than an argument for a larger naval force structure; it represents as well an opportunity for the reader to reflect on sea power and the employment of a navy, so as to form an answer to the question: "What does the nation need and want its navy to do?"
The author presents five core strategic missions of the U.S. Navy. The service's first priority is to use the nuclear triad to deter nuclear war. Second, the Navy must be able to conduct sustained and complex maritime warfare from the sea. The third priority is to deter and respond immediately to regional conflicts and challenges. Fourth, the Navy needs to conduct global surveillance through forward deployment, and to respond to crises. Lastly, the Navy provides extended coastal defense that keeps potential adversaries at greater distances from the United States. This list of core missions reflects the orthodoxy of American sea power, captures the enduring elements of the missions of the U.S. Navy, and is a clear expression of the purpose of the service.
The book presents a comprehensive assessment of the conditions that have affected materiel and personnel readiness within the naval force structure over the last two decades. Cropsey's examination of sea power evaluates the complex interrelationships among force structure, strategy, operational employment, and readiness. He explains in detail the cascading effects on the Navy and Marine Corps, and on the men and women who serve therein, from reductions in force structure, prolonged deployments, deferred or truncated maintenance periods, and expedited predeployment training.
Using descriptive regional security scenarios, Cropsey presents plausible future situations and describes how and why potential adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran would take actions in their regions in pursuit of their own national interests, thereby threatening U.S. partner states, regional stability, and U.S. national interests.
The author uses these scenarios to demonstrate how a U.S. maritime response to regional aggression could be constrained or limited by diminished Navy and Marine Corps force structures and postures. Thus, these scenarios examine the potential vulnerabilities that have resulted from seablindness.
Cropsey recommends that the Trump administration conduct a comprehensive assessment of American sea power to determine the "goals, size, and character" of the U.S. Navy. In two chapters entitled "Rebuilding American Seapower" and "Naval Rearmament," Cropsey's analysis frames the naval force structure alternatives facing the Trump administration, Congress, and naval force planners. The author evaluates President Trump's 2016 350-ship campaign goal by comparing it with the Navy's 2017 thirty-year shipbuilding plan of 308 ships and the 2015 Congressional Budget Office assessment of Navy shipbuilding. Cropsey makes recommendations for changes in force posture, naval operating concepts, and force structure programming. He determines that the United States has the industrial capability and resources to build a 350-ship Navy-if the Trump administration effectively advocates for sea power, and if Congress establishes sea power as a priority.
Seablindness delivers a candid and uniquely comprehensive examination of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps by first assessing the past and current uses of American sea power and analyzing force-structure requirements, then considering the future security environment, naval missions in general, and particular employment options for the U.S. Navy.
SEAN SULLIVAN
Copyright Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Naval War College Autumn 2018