By Dmitry Filipoff

CIMSEC is looking for multiple volunteers to bolster our organization across a range of operations. These volunteers will help CIMSEC improve its content, grow the organization, and execute future initiatives.

The types of positions and functions are described in more detail below. Beyond these categories, we also welcome individuals interested in maritime security who wish to contribute their skillsets to CIMSEC in some fashion.

Editors: Senior editors work with authors to provide substantive feedback, sharpen their writing, and finalize their drafts for publication.

Podcasters: Podcast hosts regularly bring guests onto our flagship Sea Control podcast to discuss a wide range of topics on naval affairs and maritime security. Podcast producers refine episodes with audio editing and finalize them for publication.

Officers: Officers conduct high-level administrative and governance functions, include managing the organization’s finances, elections, and membership.

Discussion Facilitators: Facilitators run regular off-the-record discussions for the CIMSEC Flotilla, which organizes candid conversations on naval warfighting and force development topics for the Flotilla membership.

Technical Experts: Support our WordPress functions and web hosting. Play a role in upgrading the CIMSEC website with new aesthetics and functionality.

As an all-volunteer organization, CIMSEC strives to afford our staff great flexibility and initiative in shaping the nature of their commitment. Many volunteers have participated in a variety of capacities and contributed to the organization in unique ways. CIMSEC is an excellent opportunity to deepen one’s interest in maritime security, form connections with likeminded individuals, and craft original contributions to the field.

To learn more and discuss opportunities, send all interested inquiries to Content@cimsec.org.

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

Featured Image: “U.S. Men’s Eight – Morning Row” via Rowing News.

By Dmitry Filipoff

CIMSEC had an outstanding year in 2023. Numerous authors took to CIMSEC to offer compelling insights and analysis on a broad range of maritime security topics and naval affairs. We are continually grateful to our readership for following and contributing to the conversation on our pages. To close out the year, we are highlighting the top 10 CIMSEC articles of 2023, listed below in order of most viewed.

On behalf of the CIMSEC team, we hope you enjoy the holidays, and we look forward to continuing the conversation in an exciting new year.

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1. “An Allied Coast Guard Approach to Countering CCP Maritime Gray Zone Coercion,” by Jada Fraser

“An analysis of recent reforms to Japan’s coast guard presents several models that the USCG can build off. Such an approach recognizes current U.S. resource limitations and accounts for how an important U.S. ally at the forefront of countering CCG gray zone activities has pursued its own reforms, even while under similar and additional constraints.”

2. “A Fleet Adrift: The Mounting Risks of the U.S. Navy’s Force Development,” by Dmitry Filipoff

“Overall, the Navy’s major exercises often took a scripted character, where the outcomes were generally known beforehand and the opposition was usually made to lose. Training only one thing at a time against opposition that never wins barely scratches the surface of war, but for the most part this was the best the Navy could do to train its strike groups for years.”

3. “Fighting DMO, Pt. 8: China’s Anti-Ship Firepower and Mass Firing Schemes,” by Dmitry Filipoff

“As both great powers build up and evolve their anti-ship firepower, it is critical to assess their respective schemes of massing fires, and how these schemes may compete and interact in a specific operational context, such as a war sparked by a Taiwan contingency. Whichever side wields the superior combination of tools and methods for massing fires may earn a major advantage in deterrence and in conflict.”

4. “Tankers For The Pacific Fight: A Crisis in Capability,” by Stephen M. Carmel

“Not only does the U.S. lack the tonnage required to support a major conflict in the Pacific, it has no identifiable roadmap to obtain it. Without enough fuel, the most advanced capabilities and ships – even nuclear-powered aircraft carriers – will hardly be available for use. This is a crisis in capability that requires urgent and effective action.”

5. “Winning High-End War at Sea: Insights into the PLA Navy’s New Strategic Concept,” by Ryan D. Martinson

“Perhaps no one source of information is more valuable than Chinese media coverage of an important—but largely unknown—conference of PLAN admirals held at the end of 2022, in the wake of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20^th Party Congress. The available reporting on the conference sheds light on how to better understand how the PLAN sees its strategic priorities.”

6. “Fighting DMO, Pt. 1: Defining Distributed Maritime Operations and the Future of Naval Warfare,” by Dmitry Filipoff

“Distributed Maritime Operations can provide a framework for understanding modern naval warfare and illuminate its future. While plenty of unknowns remain, the DMO concept offers an important opportunity to foster debate on how to adapt naval warfighting and translate theory into practice.”

7. “Fighting DMO, Pt. 2: Anti-Ship Firepower and the Major Limits of the American Naval Arsenal,” by Dmitry Filipoff

“The ability to mass fires is fundamentally enabled by fielding a large number of long-range missiles across a wide variety of platforms. In terms of numbers, range, and variety, the U.S. military falls woefully short. The U.S. military cannot execute the tactic of distributed massed fires against warships today because it simply does not have the weapons to make it possible. Its current anti-ship missile firepower is extremely concentrated in aircraft carriers and tightly stretched thin everywhere else.”

8. “Island Blitz: A Campaign Analysis of a Taiwan Takeover by the PLA,” by Max Stewart

“This campaign analysis seeks to determine how long U.S. decision-makers can realistically have those debates before the PLA seizes Taipei and the window for effective intervention with military force has closed. It does so by employing analytical modeling, informed by historical data, to determine how long the Taiwanese can resist a Chinese invasion absent direct U.S. military intervention given best-case-scenario timelines for the PLA.”

9. “Fighting DMO, Pt. 7: The Future of the Aircraft Carrier in Distributed Warfighting,” by Dmitry Filipoff

“For distributed warfighting at sea, there is a clear argument to be made for the vital role of naval aviation, whether it must come from aircraft carriers or somewhere else. Some of these arguments are couched in the fact that many of the premier weapons of modern naval warfare are themselves fast airborne payloads, that warships are mostly blind to spaces of enormous tactical consequence, and that air superiority is a powerful enabler of information superiority.”

10. “Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Submarines Attack?” by LtCol Brent Stricker

“Vague orders on the use of nuclear tipped torpedoes and the heat and confusion might have caused a local commander to launch these weapons, dragging two nuclear powers into an escalating exchange both desperately wanted to avoid. This potentially escalatory exchange at a pivotal moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis offers a cautionary tale for the continuing conflict in Ukraine.”

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

Featured Image: The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) transits the South China Sea on June 18, 2021, with the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67). (MC1 Rawad Madanat/Navy)

By Jimmy Drennan

CIMSEC officer roles are annually elected positions, and the elections are now open for the 2021-2022 term for officers, and 2021-2023 term for board members. Read the biographic and goals statements of the nominees for the five elected officer positions, and vote using the form below. Voting closes on December 14. 

Christopher Stockdale, for President

My primary vision for the group and my aim as President of the organization is to put the ‘I’ into CIMSEC, but what does that mean? CIMSEC is an international focused organization and comprises of many chapters from across the world however I cannot help but think that in certain areas the group is still underrepresented and that much of the analysis and thinking is focused on the US and that the majority of our contributors are US based. This is great, the US is an important global actor and I want to build and expand on this whilst also getting more of our international colleagues involved. It is my aim to increase dialogue and discussion and to encourage more articles and podcasts from some of the ‘quieter’ and less represented regions. I believe that to give more the organization a greater sense of diversity and to further act as a knowledge sharing platform we need to build our relationships and expand our community and our audience. Attracting new members, new colleagues and new partners, is essential to the expansion of the group, its reach, its relevance and its presence within the forum of maritime security debate and discussion.

To expand CIMSEC also needs to improve and increase its financial base. To do this I purpose expanding on existing plans to launch a range of CIMSEC merchandise which will be designed and managed by an online company. This revenue stream will help us to raise finances for projects, meetings, sponsorship, prizes for competitions and a range of other areas that will help to expand and develop the group.

I further believe that CIMSEC needs to spend more time devoted to the establishment and management of its chapters. As a Chapter President I know how rewarding and how challenging this post can be and it is my belief that more has to be done to help our chapters grow and flourish. In 2020, I drafted a guide for Chapter Presidents illustrating how chapters can be established, what is needed, how to set-up and host meetings and who to contract with questions or difficulties. I aim to expand on this and give our Chapter Presidents greater support, advice and a specified point of contact that they can call on should they need to, I will also liaise with the Membership Director to determine the number and status of our chapters and personally connect with all our Chapter Presidents to get a full account of our global presence. I will also invite Chapter Presidents to record a brief presentation introducing themselves and giving information about their group and members as a way of reaching a wider audience and building a further connection with our core partners. I would like to establish a series of regular update meetings where Chapter Presidents present their news, details of events and/or meetings and where they can express concerns, present suggestions and feedback and exchange advice and experience in a friendly and cooperative environment.

CIMSEC is a great social, collaborative and informative platform and relies on its audience and community for its success. Since its inception it has achieved an impressive record and has reached a wide range of people, but I believe that this can be built upon and further expanded with the organization increasing its range and presence through the measures I have already outlined and more besides and I welcome the opportunity to lead the group as its next President.

Chris O’Connor, for Vice President

Dmitry Filipoff, for Director of Online Content

I have been CIMSEC’s Director of Online Content since 2015, and a Publications Coordinator with the American Foreign Service Association since 2016.

My goals for CIMSEC include maintaining a robust and consistent schedule of publications, calls for articles, interviews and other content forms. I will also grow and strengthen our new naval society, the Warfighting Flotilla, through regular off-the-record talks and other member engagement initiatives. 

Christian Fernandez, for Director of Membership

I am a policy researcher assessing topics of public significance with the goal of providing facts and data about the scope and impact of the government’s different policies. My expertise includes conducting research, data analysis, and the development and implementation of research tools. I have a BA in Political Science from the University of North Texas at Dallas and will attend law school in the fall of 2022. Specific fields of interest include Infrastructure, Government Spending, and Public Opinion.

I am currently the Membership Coordinator and want to take on the responsibility of organizing membership events and providing members with programs and opportunities. Additionally, I want to work with the leadership team to accelerate membership growth and lead initiatives to expand our member outreach in order to maximize member engagement.

Ed Salo, for Director of Outreach

Jimmy Drennan is President of CIMSEC. Contact him at President@cimsec.org.