The U.S. Navy needs to restructure for all types of maritime conflict.

When will China emerge as a military threat to the U.S.? In most respects the answer is: not anytime soon—China doesn’t even contemplate a time it might challenge America directly. But one significant threat already exists: cyberwar. Attacks—not just from China but from Russia and elsewhere—on America’s electronic networks cost millions of dollars and could in the extreme cause the collapse of financial life, the halt of most manufacturing systems, and the evaporation of all the data and knowledge stored on the Internet.

America’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, especially in today’s irregular, asymmetric warfare climate, could be little more than slow-moving targets.

When the current wars begin to wind down, which they inevitably will, we need to take a closer look at reforming-possibly even by congressional mandate-professional military education (PME).

As a significant medium power in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia inescapably is a participant in the most politically, economically, and strategically dynamic part of the world. The region is a vast and politically complex area, one that is increasingly prosperous, confident, volatile, and potentially dangerous in almost equal parts. Situated at the nexus of the Pacific and Indian oceans, Australia must share in both the opportunities and challenges thrown up by these two great maritime stages for geopolitical interaction.

Bill Sweetman on the US Navy’s and US Air Force’s emerging concept of Air-Sea Battle.

People tend to neglect the contributions of smaller nations like Denmark in the war against piracy. Here is a nice reminder.

Last week brought promising news of a first step in denying pirates the use of ports such as Garacad, along the middle of the Somali coastline. The ministers of the defense of the European Union announced an expansion of the mission of EU’s Operation Atalanta to “include control of the Somali ports where pirates are based as well as ‘neutralizing’ mother ships that allow the pirates to operate over 1,000 kilometers from the coast.”

P.W. Singer on how the United States’ new favorite weapon in the war on terror could soon be turned against us.

Speaking at the Conference of Defense Associations’ gathering in the Canadian capital this morning, the U.S. Navy’s Adm. Gary Roughead stressed the need for the U.S. Navy to work with regional allies to protect the global commons from both state and non-state actors who seek to disrupt trade on the surface, and disrupt lines of communication and resource extraction on the ocean floor.