The Necessity of American Sea Power: A Discussion with Dr. Jerry Hendrix

The New Diplomatist

In this episode, Garrison is joined by Dr. Jerry Hendrix, Vice President of the Telemus Group, retired U.S. Navy officer, and a widely respected naval expert.

The two discuss Dr. Hendrix’s recent Foreign Policy magazine article: “Sea Power Makes Great Powers” (click here to read: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/10/us-navy-sea-power-china-decline-military-strategy/). The discussion considers the nature of naval power as a reflection of a great power’s rise or decline, and specifically the need for the U.S. Navy to recover both quantitive and qualitative strength, escape the ‘divest to invest’ trap that historically degraded British naval supremacy, rebuild national naval shipbuilding and repair capacity, and prioritize naval development for national security. Historical examples from Congressman Carl Vinson to President Ronald Reagan era subsidy reductions inform the discussion throughout. Also, they discuss the nature of hypersonic weapons as a new ‘Sputnik Moment’ for American military research and scientific development. They close with a tribute to the man Dr. Hendrix believes is the most important figure in American naval development.

Dr. Hendrix is a vice president at the Telemus Group and the author of To Provide and Maintain a Navy. He is a retired Navy officer with experience in strategy, force structure planning, carrier strike group operations, and anti-submarine warfare. Outside of his military experience, Dr. Hendrix has held posts with senior staffs including the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, the Secretary of Defense’s Office of Force Development, and the Office of Net Assessment where he served as the Senior Military Assistant to its Director.

Prior to joining the Telemus Group, Dr. Hendrix served as the Director of the defense program at the bi-partisan Center for a New American Security where he authored a number of cutting-edge studies on the need for a larger Navy, the evolution of the carrier air wing, the long range heavy bomber, and the growing gap in anti-submarine capabilities in the North Atlantic. While on active duty he served as an instructor naval flight officer in the P-3C Orion aircraft as well as a Tactical Action Officer and an Air Operations Officer on nuclear and light amphibious aircraft carriers. He supported combat operations in operations Desert Storm, Allied Force, Deliberate Forge, and Iraqi Freedom. In addition, he served as the Director of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Panel and as Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

He holds graduate degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University as well as a doctorate from King’s College, London.

Garrison Moratto is the founder and host of The New Diplomatist Podcast; he is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy - Foreign Policy at Liberty University in the United States where he also received a M.S. of International Relations as well as a B.S. in Government: Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude).

All guest opinions are their own and not that of The New Diplomatist podcast formally.

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