From the Executive Director
Naval strategy has recently received more attention than in any peacetime era since Alfred Thayer Mahan dominated the scene. This unusual prominence stems from the Navy’s attempt to think through and spell out a maritime strategy within the national military strategy. Because the best developed and most detailed statements of “The Maritime Strategy” have been available only in classified versions, public debate between its supporters and detractors has often suffered from misinterpretations or exaggerations.
This supplement provides the most definitive and authoritative statements of the Maritime Strategy that are available in unclassified form. They are the nearest thing to a British “White Paper”—that is, an official statement of policy—that we are likely to encounter in the American political system.
James A. Barber, Jr.