The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), a DC-based independent policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking about national security strategy, is calling for the United States to adopt a new approach to maritime policy that recognizes the inherent linkage between the commercial and national security contributions of the maritime industry. Their report, “Strengthening the U.S. Defense Maritime Industrial Base”, calls on the U.S. Government “to create and implement a U.S. National Maritime Strategy to grow the U.S. maritime industrial base and increase its competitiveness.”
The new report urges the U.S. Government to restore the U.S. merchant marine by, among other things, stabilizing the stipend available to U.S.-flag vessels under the Maritime Security Program, better enforcement of existing cargo preference shipping requirements, and the reform of outdated taxes and regulations, especially those related to mariner wages and ship repair duties. It urges that specialized ships and tankers should be brought under the U.S.-flag through MSP-like programs in order to increase the size of the militarily-useful U.S.-flag fleet and to increase the number of trained and qualified U.S. citizen mariners.
The report emphasizes that “a new comprehensive strategy is all the more important given the growing threat posed by Chinese maritime power . . .”
The full report can be found by clicking
here.