Digital Commons Network^™

Cmsi Translations, China Maritime Studies Institute

CMSI Quarterly Review

No abstract provided.

Cmsi Quarterly (Fall 2026) Full Issue, China Maritime Studies Institute

CMSI Quarterly Review

Full issue of Issue 8 of the CMSI Quarterly Review.

A History Of State Attacks On Submarine Cables, Jonathan Winkler

Naval War College Review

Performing a heavier lift than most realize, the world’s submarine cables are being sabotaged at an increasing rate. But what seems a recent phenomenon belies a long history of attacks on these vital lines of communication.

Interrelated Risk Of The Maritime Choke-Point Network, Michael Kidd, Giana Farry, Violet G. Frost, Liam Kiley, Aakash Palathra, Moe Abdelsalam

Naval War College Review

Disruptions to choke points in various parts of the choke-point network create chains of risks spreading far and wide.Using mathematic modeling presents ways to mitigate negative impacts across the whole of the choke-point network.

Perception Management—An Overlooked And Enduring Element Of The 1980s Maritime Strategy, Anand Toprani, William Manthorpe

Naval War College Review

William Manthorpe’s views on perception management, drawn from newly archived materials, are reexamined and made available to the public for the first time.

From The Editors, Sam J. Tangredi, Editor-In-Chief

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Autumn 2026 Full Issue, The U.S. Naval War College

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Chapter 4: Untangling The “Legal Vortex”: Transit, Tolls, And Truce In The Strait Of Hormuz, James Kraska

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Cmsi Translations #36: The First Joint Underwater Patrol: Starting With The China-Russia "Joint Sea-2025" Exercise, Guan Hai

CMSI Translations

In August of this year (2025), deep within the waters of the Northwestern Pacific, an underwater patrol was reshaping the strategic landscape of the Asia-Pacific. The Russian submarine Volkhov and the Chinese Navy’s submarine Changcheng 210 came together in a joint formation for the first time, traversing the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea to complete a joint underwater patrol spanning more than 2,000 nautical miles.

The joint underwater patrol conducted by Chinese and Russian submarine formations represents a new form of joint maritime patrol for the two navies, following their joint surface ship patrols. This move not …

8th Annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference, Stockton Center For International Law

Cushing International Law Conference

Conflict at Sea
Seoul, Republic of Korea | 8-9 June 2026   The Stockton Center for International Law, in partnership with the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), hosted the 8th Annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference, Conflict at Sea, in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 8-9 June 2026. The conference brought together military leaders, government officials, legal advisers, policymakers, and scholars to examine emerging challenges in maritime security and international law.

The conference attracted approximately 80 participants, including 40 registrants and 40 speakers, representing 10 countries, with significant participation from the Republic of Korea Navy and regional maritime-security …

Cmsi Translations #34: Research On Integrated Defense Against Precision Strikes By The Powerful Enemy At Sea, Zhang Debao, Sun Yunxing, Hu Xiaolong

CMSI Translations

The United States has initiated substantive preparations for high-end warfare and continues to exert coercive pressure on China. Drawing on insights from over a dozen localized conflicts, this article analyzes the US military’s strike capabilities, operational patterns, and systemic ground vulnerabilities. Grounded in the concepts of resilience and survivability, systems-based confrontation, and tiered defense, it proposes targeted operational principles, countermeasures, and strategic recommendations for countering precision strikes by the powerful enemy.

Rethinking The Legal Status Quo In Cyberspace To Legally Attribute State Responsibility, And Enhance Accountability And Deterrence, Dan Efrony

International Law Studies

The absence of formal legal attributions of State responsibility for malicious cyber operations reflects a strategic choice by influential States—foremost the United States and the United Kingdom—rather than doctrinal certainty. So long as States avoid creating legal rules for attribution, they entrench cyberspace as a legal gray zone and expose the limits of collective attribution as a governance mechanism. This article identifies probative and institutional impediments in the secondary rules of attribution: the effective control test is difficult to satisfy for proxy cyber operations, the lack of an authoritative standard of proof enables plausible deniability, and, absent consent, States remain …

The Cognitive Dimension Of Mobilization—Reconsidering American War Preparation In An Age Of Persistent Cognitive Warfare, Robert "Jake" Bebber

Naval War College Review

American war mobilization doctrine is built on an industrial-era paradigm that assumes the primary contest is material: who can most efficiently convert economic capacity into military power. An evaluation suggests that this paradigm, while necessary, is no longer sufficient.

From The Editors, Sam J. Tangredi Editor-In-Chief

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Summer 2026 Full Issue, The U.S. Naval War College

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Education And Engagement, China Maritime Studies Institute

CMSI Quarterly Review

No abstract provided.

Cmsi Quarterly (Summer 2026) Full Issue, China Maritime Studies Institute

CMSI Quarterly Review

Full issue of Issue 1 of the CMSI Quarterly Review.

What’S In A Name? Much Ado About “War-Sustaining” Objects, W. Casey Biggerstaff

International Law Studies

Recent conflicts have renewed the long-running debate over the legality of attacking economic objects under the law of armed conflict. Within that discourse, observers frequently frame the controversy in relation to an abstract U.S. “war-sustaining” position. Critics often characterize the United States as advancing a distinctive and overly permissive interpretation of military objectives that allegedly departs from the targeting criteria set forth in Article 52(2) of Additional Protocol I. This article challenges that characterization. It concludes that the United States does not apply a separate “war-sustaining” lex specialis to economic objects. Rather, U.S. practice reflects a contextual application of Article …

Near And Far Waters: The Geopolitics Of Seapower, Anand Toprani, Colin Flint

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Admiral James Stavridis: Sailor, Scholar, Leader, Christopher Nelson, Stanley D. M. Carpenter

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

Research & Debate—The First Ai War, Thomas C. Linn

Naval War College Review

From the earliest human conflicts to today, human ingenuity in warfare has led to some of humanity’s greatest technological wonders. Recent developments within the Department of Defense (DoD, also called the Department of War) point to the most recent wave of warfare innovation: that of artificial intelligence (AI).

Will Navies Prevail In “Generation Drone”?—An Australian View, Sean A. G. Andrews

Naval War College Review

The often-heralded obsolescence of traditional naval power looms like a specter over navies in the era of drone warfare. As with technological innovations of the past, however, there is a strong case to be made that innovation tends to transform—rather than displace—a navy’s role in a broader maritime ecosystem.

Emerging Warfare Dynamics In The Algorithmic Age—Artificial Intelligence, Mass, And Deception In Systemic Conflict, Jonathan Compton

Naval War College Review

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems in both the United States and the People’s Republic of China is having a critical impact on the shape of future warfare. Shifting away from the traditional battlefield, technological advances redirect targeting focus from tanks and aircraft toward critical nodes across entire societal frameworks.

Cyberattack-Resilient Artificial Intelligence In Navies—Solving The Skill-Needs Gap, Chris C. Demchak

Naval War College Review

With artificial intelligence—cyber’s offspring—come several risks and vulnerabilities that must be defended against. The key to defense, as always, is having the right personnel in place to build resilience into the mission. To distribute critical manning assets correctly, skill-needs rubrics are well suited to ensure that the proper personnel are on hand to defend systems and execute critical missions.

Cmsi Translations #29: Can “Armchair Strategizing” Secure Victory From A Thousand Miles Away?, Huang Lin, Xu Ting, Deng Xiaotu

CMSI Translations

In 440 BC, Mozi and Lu Ban—using a belt to represent a city wall and wooden tablets as weaponry—launched a "paper confrontation" in front of the palace of the King of Chu that changed the trajectory of warfare. This simulation of nine victorious battles not only neutralized the power of the State of Chu’s siege ladders in an abstract strategic contest, but also revealed the ultimate value of wargaming: utilizing simulated combat to anticipate the realities of the battlefield and employing logical deduction to avert the calamities of war.

Battlefield Uncertainties And The Use Of Ai, Tsvetelina Van Benthem

International Law Studies

This article explores the relationship between uncertainty in armed conflict, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and the content of international law. It first provides a review of different types of conflict-related uncertainty, both internal to the party to conflict and external, and considers the interaction between these existing uncertainties and the use of AI. In so doing, it also explores the new uncertainties that can be introduced through AI. Second, it analyzes national submissions on military uses of AI and autonomous weapons to outline the uncertainties raised by States and their relevance for regulatory approaches to the use of …

Technology-Based Challenges To The Law Applicable To Trade Interdiction During Armed Conflict At Sea: The Law Of Naval Warfare And Convoy Operations, Rob Mclaughlin

International Law Studies

The practice of convoy involves the concentration of a group of merchant vessels under the control and direction of warships and military aircraft for the purpose of protecting it from belligerent capture or attack. The practice has often been described as obsolete, but asserting the demise of the convoy has been as regular as it has been premature. It is fitting that this operational practice be subject to an updated legal treatment and identification of new legal challenges. This article seeks to reassess the law applicable to convoys based on the consequences of certain post-1945 technological developments. It notes that …

Closing The “Extreme Circumstances” Gap: The Legality Of Nuclear Weapons When The Survival Of A State Is In Question, Christopher J. Hart

International Law Studies

There is a gap at the heart of the law governing the use of nuclear weapons. Repeated threats by Russian leaders to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine highlight the urgency of closing this gap. This article reviews the central holding of the 1996 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons. The article focuses on the controversial “extreme circumstances” clause, in which the ICJ stated that it could not determine the legality of using nuclear weapons when the survival of a State was in question. This left open the questions …

The Sources Of Russian Aggression: Is Russia A Realist Power?, James Kraska, Sumantra Maitra

Naval War College Review

No abstract provided.

U.S. And Nato Strategic Sealift And The Role Of Norway, Ian Bowers, Øystein Tunsjø

Naval War College Review

U.S. sealift capability, crucial in the defense of allies in Europe and beyond, has withered over many decades. Recent developments have left European allies scrambling to provide their own defense, leaving some looking to Norway’s large merchant fleet to cover the gaps in U.S. sealift capabilities.