1st Edition
The United States Navy’s Pivot to Asia The Origins of a Cooperative Strategy for Twenty-First Century Seapower
This book examines the origins of the US Navy’s 2007 Maritime Strategy, the formation of the US government’s “Pivot to Asia” strategy, and the most recent revisions to this strategy that focus more specifically on China. Besides examining the details of this strategy formulation, the book explores the internal and external repercussions on the US Navy of the Pivot to Asia. It discusses the “Fat Leonard” scandal, which involved bribery and corruption in contracts for the maintenance of the US fleets in the region, and considers the sharp decrease in training and readiness of the Pacific fleet to support the pivot, which in turn led to serious maritime collisions. It also assesses the impact of the pivot on other countries in the region, engaging in the debate as to whether the pivot was necessary in order to convince the countries of the region that the United States had not lost its staying power, or whether the pivot managed to make tensions in the Asia-Pacific worse even while allowing the strategic situation in the Middle East and Europe to worsen as a result of neglect.
List of Figures
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Introduction: Why a New Maritime Strategy?
Chapter 1: A Short History of the Process Behind Writing CS-21: "A Cooperative
Strategy for 21st Century Seapower"
Chapter 2: Maritime Strategy Option Echo plus four Original Maritime Strategy Options
Chapter 3: Fine-tuning the CS-21 Maritime Strategy Document
Chapter 4: Accolades and Criticism of CS-21
Chapter 5: The Pivot to Asia
Chapter 6: The Fat Leonard Scandal and Solving East Asian U.S. Navy Corruption
Chapter 7: The Capable, the Corrupt, and the Collisions
Chapter 8: Problems in Paradise: The Harley Education Revolution, Mutiny, and Takedown
Conclusions. CS-21, CS-21 Refresh, and Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Long-term Impact of the Pivot to Asia
Chart A
Chart B
Appendix 1: The Historical Background of Maritime Strategies
Appendix 2: Maritime Strategy Alpha
Appendix 3: Maritime Strategy Option Bravo
Appendix 4: Maritime Strategy Option Charlie
Appendix 5: Maritime Strategy Option Delta
Appendix 6: Bryan McGrath’s Version of Maritime Strategy Option Echo
Appendix 7: Naval War College Version of Maritime Strategy Option Echo
Appendix 8: The Final Maritime Strategy Document Issued October 2007
Appendix 9: CNO Gary Roughead Guidance 25 October 2007
Appendix 10: Statement by Admiral Gary Roughead CNO 13 December 2007
Appendix 11: Proposed Outline for MARSTRAT Discussion with PCNO 10 SEP 2007
Appendix 12: News From the Strategy and Policy Department, Feb. 5, 2013
Appendix 13: A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, March 2015
Selected Bibliography
About the Author
Index
Biography
Bruce A. Elleman is William V. Pratt Professor of International History at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
