{"id":32024,"date":"2020-12-17T21:58:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T21:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/17\/new-tri-maritime-strategy-released-but-leaders-struggle-to-explain-certain-key-points\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:52:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:52:27","slug":"new-tri-maritime-strategy-released-but-leaders-struggle-to-explain-certain-key-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/12\/17\/new-tri-maritime-strategy-released-but-leaders-struggle-to-explain-certain-key-points\/","title":{"rendered":"New \u2018tri-maritime strategy\u2019 released, but leaders struggle to explain certain key points"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new tri-service maritime strategy<\/a> for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard released Thursday is the latest Pentagon product to sound the alarm over the increasing military might of a resurgent Russia and an ascendant China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replete with Pentagonese like \u201cIntegrated All-Domain Naval Power,\u201d the report starkly warns of the threat posed by Beijing and to a lesser extent Moscow, and how those rivals could upend the international order as soon as the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, which you can read here<\/a>, warns of Beijing having the world\u2019s largest navy and deeper shipyard capabilities, ominous portents about the future of sea control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo support its multilayered fleet, China is also developing the world\u2019s largest missile force, with nuclear capabilities, which is designed to strike U.S. and allied forces in Guam and in the Far East with everything from ballistic missiles to maneuverable cruise and hypersonic missiles,\u201d the report warns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the document lays out these challenges in at-times grim terms, leaders of the three services put forth for a call with reporters Thursday struggled to explain what several points mean for rank-and-file personnel and material ship readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to bolstering partnerships, reassessing platforms and other measures, the report states that \u201cready, forward-deployed naval forces will accept calculated tactical risks and adopt a more assertive posture in our day-to-day operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what that would entail for units steaming near disputed waters in the South China Sea<\/a> or flying over Europe and getting intercepted by Russian fighter jets<\/a> remains unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked by several reporters about how \u201ccalculated tactical risks\u201d and \u201ca more assertive posture\u201d would play out at sea, Rear Adm. James Bynum<\/a>, the acting deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, emphasized that the report is strategic and that providing real-world examples would amount to \u201cconjecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Corps. Maj. Gen. Paul Rock<\/a>, director of the strategy and plans division, plans policies and operations, said those aspects of the report are \u201cnot about being provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not about sons and daughters of America being exposed to unnecessary risk, gratuitously,\u201d Rock said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, he said, it was about \u201cclearly signaling\u201d to China or Russia that the United States\u2019 naval forces will take steps to reinforce and maintain existing international standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not going to be \u2018salami sliced\u2019 to death or back down\u201d on upholding those norms, Rock said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradley Martin<\/a>, a retired surface warfare officer who spent two-thirds of his 30-year career at sea, questioned the utility of such statements in the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStrategic doesn\u2019t mean vacuous,\u201d said Martin, now a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corp.. \u201cJust to say we\u2019re going to do it and leave it at that, it\u2019s not really a helpful addition to discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t