Photo By Kristopher Burris | NEWPORT, R.I.— Dr. Geoffrey Till, emeritus professor of Maritime Studies of King’s...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I.—The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG) held the fourth annual maritime symposium on irregular warfare at the Wyndham Hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, June 23-25.
This year’s symposium, titled “Shadows and Sabotage”, brought select academics, industry experts and military and government officials together to examine gray zone activities such as the rise of Chinese and Russian shadow fleets, maritime sabotage, the race for critical minerals and the impact of other irregular warfare methods on the future of maritime operations.
Dr. Joshua Tallis, senior research scientist at the Center for Naval Analysis, delivered the opening keynote address, discussing threats to U.S. interests posed by adversaries operating below the threshold of armed conflict.
“War is one way that the U.S.-led order can be threatened, but the order is also vulnerable to erosion and corrosion by small, daily malicious activities,” said Tallis. “That second category is why this conference’s work is so important—we need strategies and policies that help the U.S. Navy and U.S. government effectively maintain the global system and its value, not just defend it in war.”
The event also featured keynote addresses by Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative; Dr. Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Critical Minerals Security Program; and Dr. Dennis Walters, director of the Irregular Warfare Center.
In addition to these speakers, the event featured five panel discussions on shadow fleets, maritime sabotage, critical minerals and strategic competition, maritime industry tracking and analysis and government policy responses.
Discussions of shadow fleets focused on the approximately one thousand unmarked tanker ships currently deployed by the People’s Republic of China and Russian Federation to bypass international sanctions and to spy on U.S. naval operations.
“The shadow fleet didn’t start out as gray zone aggression,” said Braw during her keynote address. “It started out as an economic response by Russia to the oil price cap, and as a result of globalization there were plenty of non-Western countries economically and politically powerful enough to import the oil transported by the shadow fleet. And later, Russia seemed to realize that it could use shadow vessels for nefarious activities involving undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.”
Rigorous discussions and debates between the 175 participants yielded proposed solutions to the evolving and complex challenges of irregular warfare. The event culminated in a writing workshop which produced written findings on the topics of shadow fleets, critical minerals and maritime sabotage.
Findings will be published in a variety of relevant industry publications.
CIWAG was established at NWC in 2008 with the goal of promoting research and pursuing the study of contemporary irregular warfare and non-state actors.
CIWAG began hosting symposia in 2009 to bring together top academics and leaders of the special operations community to discuss emerging trends in irregular warfare and armed groups, bridging the gap between strategy, academics and operations. These events are opportunities to expand upon the joint knowledge base of the community and foster interoperability between the military, academic and government institutions.
Established in 1884, NWC informs today’s decision-makers and educates tomorrow’s leaders by providing educational experiences and learning opportunities that develop their ability to anticipate and prepare strategically for the future, strengthen the foundations of peace, and create a decisive warfighting advantage.
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2025 14:26 |
| Story ID: | 501493 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 115 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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