A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making

"A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making" is the story of the evolution of the U.S. Navy and its preparation for high-end warfare. This development specifically evolved after the end of the pre-occupation with the Middle Eastern land wars. The liberal democracies are in a serious conflict with the 21st century authoritarian powers contesting the global rules for governance in the decades ahead. The maritime forces play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and security of the liberal democratic order. Based on hundreds of interviews, this book provides a worldwide assessment on how the maritime forces are evolving to prevail in the conflict with the global authoritarian forces of the 21st century.

As Vice Admiral (Retired) Dewolfe Miller underscores: "Ultimately, peer threats are what drives change and inspires clarity in the way the Navy mans, trains, and equips its forces to defend freedom and deter aggression on a global scale. "A Maritime Kill Web Force in the Making" is the story of the evolution of the US Navy and its preparation for high-end warfare. This is essential because the future of combat is to bring trusted and verifiable assets to the fight. The emphasis has been on connectivity, accelerated tactical decision making, as well as common equipment, that allows integration of systems within single services, across services and into allied services in a deliberate and disciplined manner. This publication provides a timely reminder of why the transformation of today's force is so necessary."

A long-time analyst of global defense issues, Dr. Laird has worked in the U.S. government and think tanks such as the Center for Naval Analysis and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is a Columbia University alumnus, where he taught and worked for several years at the Research Institute of International Change, a think tank founded by Dr. Brzezinski. He is a frequent op-ed contributor to the defense press and he has written several books on international security issues. Dr. Laird has taught at Columbia University, Queens College, Princeton University, and Johns Hopkins University. He has received research grants from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the United States Institute for Peace. He is the editor of two websites, Second Line of Defense and Defense.info. He is a member of the Board of Contributors of Breaking Defense and publishes there on a regular basis. He is a regular contributor to the Canadian defense magazine FrontLine Defence. He is a Research Fellow at the Williams Foundation, Canberra, Australia