I was commissioned toward the end of the Cold War and watched the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact crumble when I was a lieutenant. In the 1990s and early 2000s, there were a few years when the fear of communism was gone, Russia was westernizing and open for business, and Europe was safe. Since the early 2000s, however, it has been disconcerting to watch Russian “president” Vladimir Putin consolidate power. His rise from mid-level KGB officer to modern-day Ivan the Terrible is a “how-to” in becoming a despot.
In the mid-2000s, I served as a naval attaché in Moscow. Those years foreshadowed Putin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and his current attempt to seize all of Ukraine. In 2003, Russian authorities arrested Mikhail Khodorkovsky, then the richest man in Russia, ostensibly for tax evasion. His assets were frozen, and he endured a “shambolic” trial. By 2005, Khodorkovsky was in a Siberian prison and Putin had warned all the other oligarchs to stay out of politics—and in return he would stay out of their businesses. Also, that year, the Kremlin started to blame the United States for meddling in Georgia (the Rose Revolution) and Ukraine (the Orange Revolution).
The 17 years since then feel like an inexorable march toward Putin’s current campaign of destruction in Ukraine. Any thoughts of a “reset” with Russia are now completely erased. Putin must go; and the United States and its allies and partners must do everything they can to support and defend Ukraine. Actions to defend Ukrainian sovereignty will send a necessary signal to China, Iran, and North Korea. Any lack of resolve on the part of the civilized world will send a dangerous indication that illegal erasures of national boundaries are fair game. What happens in eastern Europe now will have enduring impacts on the world for decades to come.
This issue is full of articles that, individually, are thought-provoking and innovative, but taken together speak to comprehensive capabilities needed to deter or defeat a peer aggressor. Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Eric Smith argues for changes the Marine Corps is making in “Stand-In Forces: Adapt or Perish.” Rear Admiral H. W. Howard, the Navy’s top SEAL, describes Naval Special Warfare’s return to its naval roots in “Frogmen Solve Hard Problems from and on the Sea.” In “Amphibious Black: Guerilla Warfare in the Maritime Domain,” Captain Christopher Hill and Commander Timothy Shanley write about a recent exercise involving an amphibious ship, a destroyer, SEALs, and Marines that tested expeditionary concepts. For U.S. naval professionals to imagine themselves as guerilla warriors connotes a sea-denial mindset—a major change from the past 20 years.
The winner of the 2021 Leadership Essay Contest, sponsored by Dr. J. Phillip London, is Marine Major Brian Kerg. His “Leading through Failure” addresses challenges posed by defeat in Afghanistan and gives advice for leaders at all levels on ways to keep faith with service members, allies and partners, and future generations. For this winning essay and many other exceptional articles last year, Major Kerg has been chosen as the 2021 Proceedings Author of the Year.
This month’s American Sea Power Project article, “From ‘Ends’ to ‘Ways’ of Naval Strategy” recaps phase I and previews phase II—an exploration of how to use naval power. And next month is the International Navies issue. A record 29 international navy chiefs have written for us.