Hudson Center for American Sea Power--Inaugural Event, 07 November 2024

It gives me great pleasure to announce here the inaugural event of the Hudson Center for American Sea Power, a new organization nested within the Hudson Institute.  The Center will "...will concentrate on the size, shape, and character of American sea power. Hudson Institute's Center for American Sea Power (HCAS)will look at broad questions of U.S. and Western maritime strategy as national defense budgets decrease and challenges as diverse as Asia's growing naval strength and asymmetric warfare at sea grow."

To christen this new and exciting effort, Rear Admiral Christopher Parry RN CBE (Ret) will speak on the subject "Sea Power: Is the Sun Setting in the West or Rising in the East?".  Following his presentation, HCAS Director Seth Cropsey will lead a panel discussion including RADM Parry, former U.S. Fleet Forces Commander ADM John Harvey, and me. 

Hudson’s Center for American Sea Power (HCAS) will fill a critical void in the public dialogue on ebbing U.S. maritime power by offering intellectual arguments and detailed policy recommendations for a robust U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and a more effective U.S. Coast Guard.  Today, there is no organization dedicated solely to the implementation of a forceful educational program that clearly articulates to the American people the dire national security consequences associated with America’s continued decline in sea power. Accordingly, the HCAS will help spur a productive national debate aimed at reversing the decay of American seapower through a robust public affairs program of research, in-house conferences, and other activities on American seapower anchored in the work of distinguished naval experts.  The program will elevate awareness of the vital elements that have served for decades as the backbone of America’s maritime power, such as our shipbuilding industrial base, the magnitude and dependence of American commerce on port facilities, rail systems, and merchant shipping.  HCAS experts will draft and disseminate concise analyses of important current ‘in-the-news’ naval developments, domestic and foreign, that affect American seapower. 

I look forward to sharing with you some of the details of this exciting new enterprise as we undertake an aggressive, rolling start to its efforts.  Seth Cropsey and I believe that the time is now for sea power advocates to organize, write, think, and influence the direction our Nation takes in these turbulent years.  We look forward to the participation of like-minded patriots.  

Bryan McGrath