Brent D Sadler – författare

Naval Power in Action focuses attention to the United States' current competition with China, laying out a case for acting in three areas: strengthen the homeland to economic coercion, modernize and reorganize institutions to successfully compete, and winning the positional fight with China over markets and military posture.Amongst duck hunters there is a saying that describes our nation’s current predicament in the competition with China - shooting behind the duck. It means that the actions our leaders have been taking for many years have been reactive and ineffective, said another way, missing their mark. To correct this requires adjusting for the target’s - China’s - reaction and anticipating its course to aim for an interception point. This book aims to inform a near-term (within four years) approach to lead in this competition with China. And there is not much time to begin getting the aim right. This book refines ideas in Brent Sadler's first book, U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century, and focuses attention to the present, laying out a case for acting in three areas: strengthen the homeland to economic coercion, modernize and reorganize institutions to successfully compete, and winning the positional fight with China over markets and military posture. Achieving success in these three areas all requires urgent action with effects following in waves - increased maritime presence, followed by improvements in national industrial resiliency and capacities. Doing this requires acting with what is at hand to deter China, while setting the conditions for a sustained competition well into the future. Bore-sighting on China while necessary can be dangerous if it blinds the nation to other dangers - our nation must be prepared and armed to be able to “chew gum and walk” as often eloquently stated by our political leaders. Top of the ‘to-do’ list - bolstering our economy’s defense to coercion via a variety of vectors - cyber, sanctions, direct attacks. Most urgent is addressing the paucity of shipping on which the nation’s economy floats. This book is a roadmap for how to accomplish this complex task with urgency and effectiveness.

This nation’s Cold War and Global War on Terror defense structures need an update.  U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century provides such a framework for the changed world we live in, offering a detailed roadmap that shows how the United States can field a war-winning fleet that can also compete aggressively in peacetime against dangerous competitors unlike any the nation has faced before.Brent Sadler presents a compelling new strategy and organizing approach that he calls naval statecraft, which acknowledges the centrality and importance of the maritime domain. While similar in scale and scope to Cold War containment strategies against the Soviets, naval statecraft is much more. It must be to challenge China’s involvement in global supply chains, which gives that country significant financial heft and influence around the world.  Unlike what existed during of the Cold War, however, Sadler provides a unique vision for competing with China and Russia.Rather than simply calling for better coordinated U.S. diplomacy, military operations, and economic statecraft, Sadler argues for integrating the levers of national power coherently and in a sustainable way.  This is no small feat, and his approach is informed by a long career rich in working with various agencies of government, foreign militaries (including hostile ones), and our allies.  It is an approach imminently appropriate to our times but comes with a realization that the nation is not ready for the competition it faces from China and Russia.The book is a valuable contribution to the national debate over how best to respond to China’s rise and Russia’s antagonisms.