November 2023 MBR The Military Shelf

The Military Shelf

U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century
Brent Droste Sadler
Naval Institute Press
www.nip.org
9781682477779, $39.95, HC, 372pp

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Naval-Power-21st-Century/dp/1682477770

Synopsis: Our Cold War and Global War on Terror defense structures need an update. With the publication of "U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat", Brent Droste Sadler provides such a framework for the changed world we live in, offering a detailed roadmap that shows how the United States can field a war-winning fleet that can also compete aggressively in peacetime against dangerous competitors unlike any the nation has faced before.

Sadler presents a compelling new strategy and organizing approach that he calls naval statecraft, which acknowledges the centrality and importance of the maritime domain. While similar in scale and scope to Cold War containment strategies against the Soviets, naval statecraft is much more. It must be to challenge China's involvement in global supply chains, which gives that country significant financial heft and influence around the world.

Unlike what existed during of the Cold War, however, Sadler provides a unique vision for competing with China and Russia. Rather than simply calling for better coordinated U.S. diplomacy, military operations, and economic statecraft, Sadler argues for integrating the levers of national power coherently and in a sustainable way.

This is no small feat, and his approach is informed by a long career rich in working with various agencies of government, foreign militaries (including hostile ones), and our allies. It is an approach imminently appropriate to our times but comes with a realization that the nation is not ready for the competition it faces from China and Russia.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat" is a timely and invaluable contribution to our political and military national debate over how best to respond to China's rise seeking dominance in the Pacific, and Russia's antagonisms as represented by their invasion of Ukraine. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.99), "U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat" is an unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, military, governmental, college, and university library Contemporary Naval Military Strategy collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Brent Droste Sadler (https://www.usni.org/people/brent-sadler) is a twenty-six year Navy veteran with numerous operational tours on nuclear powered submarines and has been a member of personal staffs of senior defense department leaders and was a military diplomat in Asia.

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