Center for International Maritime Security

Rethinking Wargame Design and Analysis in the Modern Age: Lessons Learned from Global 21

The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) recently hosted Global 21, the largest and most sophisticated wargame in its history in ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Call for Articles: Naval Applications and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the maritime domain and naval warfighting. From ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Artificial Intelligence

The Department of War (DoW) is seeking a responsible AI-ready force and DoW educational institutions play a role in ensuring the DoW can meet this objective. As AI continues to evolve and get adopted ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Fiction Week 2025

From December 1-12, CIMSEC featured short stories submitted in response to our annual Call for Fiction. Authors explored a wide variety of scenarios and dilemmas. From unmanned warship attacks to ...
Center for International Maritime Security

What is a Corvette? And What Next?

Classification of surface warships as cruisers, destroyers, frigates, or corvettes, has become like pornography. There are no generally accepted definitions, but “I know it when I see it”–except that ...
Center for International Maritime Security

The Criticality of the IONS Maritime Security Construct

The concept of Constructive Engagement is foremost amongst the various strategies that India has adopted in the furtherance of her security. Consequently, this is a strategic concept that shapes much ...
Center for International Maritime Security

RO-RO Ferries and the Expansion of the PLA’s Landing Ship Fleet

The role of civilian roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) ferries in a PLA invasion of Taiwan deserves its growing notoriety. With port access secured or coupled with developing logistics over the shore ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Contesting the Littoral Terrain: The Iran War and the Military Solution to Chokepoint Warfare

The U.S.-Iran war has provided an operational test of American maritime power. Despite assembling a formidable naval force, conducting extensive strike campaigns and achieving consistent tactical ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Asymmetric Spending: Taiwan’s Opportunities to Defend Against Economic Warfare

Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz offer a timely reminder that economic warfare at sea rarely resembles the clean, declared naval cordons of the past. Blocking commercial shipping from transiting ...
Center for International Maritime Security

A Surfacing Strategy: Chinese Unconventional Oceanic Warfare

The evolution of maritime warfare has largely moved in expanding the form of conflict and the direction of it. Originating from largely surface conflict and eventually amphibious assaults, maritime ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Defeated in Peacetime: The Fall of British Singapore, 1942

“You go to war with the Army you have, not the army you want.” – U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, December 2004 Much like Secretary Rumsfeld’s comments on fighting with the army you have, a ...
Center for International Maritime Security

Elemental Leverage: How the United States Can Stop China’s Rare-Earths Squeeze Before the Next Crisis

When China threatens to close its fist, the world listens. In August 2025, Li Chenggang, Beijing’s chief trade negotiator, didn’t bother with euphemism. If the United States continued tightening ...