ABSTRACT
Introduction: The Strategic Environment The United States is, and always will be, a maritime nation and maritime security will remain a vital national interest . “There are few areas of greater strategic importance than the security of the maritime domain” (MDA,
2005, p . 2) . Freedom of navigation and the security of sea lines of communications (SLOCs) are essential to the well-being and economic vitality of the United States . Since the earliest days of the Republic, the United States has depended upon the world’s oceans to facilitate free trade and has protected the maritime domain employing all elements of national power* (see Figure 4 .1) . In fact, the importance of freedom of navigation has always been a historic strategic imperative, not only for the United States and our friends and allies, but for our adversaries as well . Therefore, security of the maritime domain is not only an issue of vital national interest to the United States, but it is an issue to all nation-states of the global maritime community .
