Sea Control 550 – Six Marines Talk Force Design 2030

By Walker Mills

CIMSEC Co-Host Walker Mills discusses Force Design 2030 with Travis Reese, Ian Brown, Zach Ota, Travis Hord, Leo Spaeder, and Brian Strom, who are all active or retired Marines in this wide-ranging conversation. They published an article “Trends in Maritime Challenges Indicate that Force Design 2030 is the Proper Path,” for War on the Rocks in January 2024.

Download Sea Control 550 – Six Marines Talk Force Design 2030

Links

1. Travis Reese, Ian Brown, Zach Ota, Travis Hord, Leo Spaeder, and Brian Strom “Trends in Maritime Challenges Indicate Force Design 2030 is the Proper Path,” War on the Rocks, January 29, 2024. 

2. “Force Design 2030,” Headquarters US Marine Corps, March 2020.

3. “Force Design 2030: Annual Update,” Headquarters US Marine Corps, June 2023.

C. Travis Reese retired from the Marine Corps after nearly 21 years of service. While on active duty he served in a variety of billets including tours in capabilities development, future scenario design, and institutional strategy. Mr. Reese is now the director of wargaming and net assessment for Troika Solutions in Reston, VA.

Ian T. Brown recently retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years of service. He frequently writes (and wargames) on modern and future war concepts. Ian currently works as a wargame analyst in the private sector.

Zach Ota is an infantry officer and an international affairs officer in the Marine Corps. LtCol Ota is also a non-resident fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare who advances issues involving maritime security, alliances and partnerships, and military history in the Pacific. LtCol Ota currently serves as a future operations planner at U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific.

Travis Hord is an infantry officer. LtCol Hord contributed to future concept and capability development while assigned as a planner at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.

Leo Spaeder is the commanding officer of Combat Logistics Battalion 12 in Okinawa, Japan and a non-resident fellow at Marine Corps University’s Brute Krulak Center for Innovation & Future Warfare. In previous assignments, LtCol Spaeder participated in scenario design and capability development related to Force Design 2030. 

Brian Strom is an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps. Major Strom currently serves as the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Target Intelligence Officer and as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet staff.

Walker Mills is Co-Host of the Sea Control podcast and an active-duty Marine. Contact the Sea Control team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

This episode was edited and produced by Andrew Frame.

Call for Articles: Short Story Fiction

Stories Due: November 18, 2024
Week Dates: December 2-6, 2024

Story Length: 1,5000-3,000 Words
Submit to: Content@cimsec.org

By Dmitry Filipoff

Fiction has long served as a powerful means for exploring hypotheticals and envisioning alternatives. In annual tradition, CIMSEC will be running a series of short stories looking to explore the nature of conflict and competition through fiction. 

Authors can explore the future and flesh out concepts for how potential clashes and warfighting challenges may play out. They can probe the past, and use historical fiction to explore alternative histories. Authors are invited to craft gripping narratives that illuminate the unforeseen and carve realistic detail into visions of future conflict.

Send all submissions to Content@cimsec.org.

For past CIMSEC Fiction Weeks, feel free to view our 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 fiction lineups.

Dmitry Filipoff is CIMSEC’s Director of Online Content. Contact him at Content@cimsec.org.

Featured Image: Futuristic warship art generated by Midjourney AI. 

Sea Control 549 – The Royal Navy During the Cold War with Edward Hampshire

By Jonathan Selling

Author Edward Hampshire joins Jonathan to discuss his new book, The Royal Navy in the Cold War Years, 1966-1990.

Edward Hampshire is an historian at the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence, Portsmouth. He has been Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs, the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and was Seconded from Sandhurst to the Defence Studies Department (King’s College London), Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, for a period.

Download Sea Control 549 – The Royal Navy During the Cold War with Edward Hampshire

Links

1. The Royal Navy in the Cold War Years, 1966-1990; Retreat and Revival, by Edward Hampshire, Naval Institute Press, 2024.

Jonathan Selling is Co-Host and Executive Producer of the Sea Control podcast. Contact him at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

This episode was edited and produced by Jim Jarvie. 

Sea Control 548 – Maritime Competition in the Mediterranean with Dr. Sebastian Bruns & Dr. Jeremy Stöhs

By Jared Samuelson

Dr. Jeremy Stöhs and Dr. Sebastian Bruns join the program to discuss their recent article in War on the Rocks in renewed competition in the Mediterranean.

Jeremy Stöhs is an Austrian-American security and defense analyst. He co-heads the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda & Security Studies at the University of Graz and is a senior fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University. Sebastian is a naval strategist and seapower expert based in Kiel, Germany, where he is senior researcher at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University.

Download Sea Control 548 – Maritime Competition in the Mediterranean with Dr. Sebastian Bruns and Dr. Jeremy Stöhs


Links

1. “Mare Nostrum Revisited: Maritime Competition in the Mediterranean,” by Dr. Jeremy Stöhs and Dr. Sebastian Bruns, War on the Rocks, June 13, 2024.

Jared Samuelson is Co-Host and Executive Producer of the Sea Control podcast. Contact him at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

This episode was edited and produced by Marie Williams.

Fostering the Discussion on Securing the Seas.