Maritime Leadership Quotes

Your leadership responsibilities are the real golden stripes

JOHN LEHMAN, PRESIDENT REAGAN’S SECRETARY of the Navy during the 1980s, recently published a book (Oceans Ventured, W. W. Norton, 2018) discussing the maritime security strategy that he promoted while he was secretary. In his book (p. 96) he comments: “In early years of the strategy, while we modernized the fleet a certain amount of bluff was necessary.” Even for those not involved at the time, that specific note might prompt someone to ask three questions: •  Just how much bluff are we talking about? •  Was any sort of net assessment made before the maritime strategy was launched? • What really happened? Well, the maritime strategy was a whole box full of bluff. And what actually occurred makes for an interesting case study. It was a while ago, so it is necessary to set the stage. It also involves providing some background as the situation had developed over some time. Our own submarine force had become more and more secretive in their war against the Soviets. As a result, nonsubmariners

Indonesia’s political geography has an amplifying effect on Indonesia’s rise. It is the largest archipelagic state in the world, and oversees maritime trade routes, which are critical lifelines for the East Asian powers, such as China, Japan and South Korea. Indonesia is the only rising Asian power that has its feet both in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, entitling it to play a leadership role in an expansive canvas stretching from eastern African shores to the western coast in the Americas.