Seablindness: How Political Neglect Is Choking American Seapower and What to Do About It

The challenges to American security in the Western Pacific, the seas that surround Europe, and the Persian Gulf are growing. At the same time, U.S. military commanders seek more naval forces to protect America's interest in the safe transit of American goods, deterrence in a proliferating world, and the defense of our key allies. All at the same time U.S. defense budgets are shrinking. American seapower has not been as small as it is today since before World War I. Unless reversed, U.S. seapower will continue its decline into the indefinite future as politicians ignore the widening gulf between the cost of modernizing and expanding American seapower, and the resources devoted to this most strategic arm of the nation's defense. In Seablindness, Seth Cropsey examines the dilemma. He looks at the consequences of neglect – the effect of increased deployments on families, global scenarios set in the immediate future, the views of America's most knowledgeable military officers, anxious reactions of American allies and more. The hard facts show how a lack of political will is dismantling our nation's global reach and with it, our position as the world's great power.