Defense of America's Sealift

Abstract

Sea lift is vulnerable. One of the challenges facing the Department of Defense (DOD) is the underestimation of specific vulnerabilities to sea lift either in port or at sea. Overall strategic success depends upon a clear understanding and appreciation of our present vulnerabilities. The United States deterrent policy relies on power projection and the ability to get forces to a crisis in a timely manner to achieve the U.S. strategic goals. By causing a delay in the U.S. deployment plan, a belligerent power could steal the initiative and conclude the hostilities before the US enters the conflict. A lot of emphasis has been placed on relying upon U.S. strategic mobility in the CINC's areas of responsibility. Mobilization planners assume that sea lift will be available without delays to meet the CINC's needs. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the security of sea lift , which deploys and sustains our armed forces, presents a critical vulnerability to our operational logistics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 16, 2000
Accession Number
ADA382098

Entities

People

  • Julio E. Arocho

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combatant Commanders
  • Defense Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Deployment
  • Employment
  • Logistics
  • Marine Transportation
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Security
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States Transportation Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Strategic Security Studies