VULNERABILITIES TO U.S. WATERWAY INFRASTRUCTURE IMPACTING THE ABILITY TO PROJECT NAVAL POWER

Abstract

This thesis answers the question: What are the core domestic maritime transportation system waterway vulnerabilities for the Carrier Strike Group power projection capabilities of the United States? There is a multitude of threats that the United States Navy faces in today’s world, such as terrorism, great power competition, and contention for freedom of the seas. Some of these originate in the homeland, such as threats to U.S. waterways that are home to surface naval vessels. Vulnerabilities to these waterways in the form of natural disasters, accidents, adversarial attacks, and management issues can potentially disrupt normal maritime operations and the power projection capabilities of the U.S. Navy. Within the continental United States, surface fleet naval bases are located within open civilian waterways, complete with interdependent infrastructure including international trade terminals, bridges, tunnels, and transportation nodes. When operating within the United States maritime transportation system infrastructure, the U.S. Navy operations are vulnerable. This thesis describes and analyzes three regions where carriers are homeported in the United States and assesses the maritime transportation system through risk assessment, reliability engineering, worst-case planning, and surprise adaptation. The assessments are then compared and contrasted to provide recommendations for improving domestic vulnerabilities to aircraft carrier power projection.