The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8)., January 28, 2015. (Senior Chief Culinary Specialist Rodney Davidson/U.S. Navy Flickr)

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This week marks the release of “A Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century: Forward, Engaged, Ready” by the combined sea services (Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard). This is a revised capstone strategic document that describes how the United States will design, organize, and employ naval forces. As Congress continues to deliberate on the President’s FY 16 budget submission, it is worth considering why sea power is important for the United States right now. Here are four of the most significant reasons why sea power is important to the United States:

1. The United States is a maritime nation. The United States is a global power because of its economic strength; this economic strength is directly linked to the free flow of trade and commerce across the global commons (sea, air and cyber routes that form the “arteries” of the global economy). 90 percent of the world’s commerce travels by sea, 95 percent of the world’s intercontinental voice and data traffic travels across undersea cables, over two thirds of the planet is covered by water and twenty-one of the world’s twenty-eight mega-cities lie within sixty-two miles of a coastline and some thirty-eight million American jobs are directly tied to seaborne international trade. The economic well-being of the United States depends on the security of the sea and unfettered access to the littoral regions of the world. It is also worth remembering that the United States has been a maritime nation since it was founded, Article I of the Constitution requires Congress to, “Maintain a Navy.”

2. The current global security environment is full of upheaval. While testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan 29, 2015, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said, “The United States has not faced a more diverse and complex array of crises since the end of the Second World War.” In just the last twelve months there has been a growing list of troubling developments in the security situation in many parts of the world.

In the Middle East, ISIS, with tens of thousands of fighters, many from Western Europe, has declared a caliphate and now controls a large portion of Syria and Western Iraq. Additionally, there are troubling signs that ISIS has found common cause with other violent extremists across what is often called the “Arc of Instability” in places such as Nigeria and Afghanistan. On the Arabian Peninsula Yemen continues to descend into chaos and in North Africa Libya is failing.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to challenge established rules of international conduct by annexing Crimea and working to redraw the borders of Ukraine with many observers wondering if Vladimir Putin’s ultimate goal is to break up NATO. Even more troubling, this aggression is happening in a part of the world where many believed armed conflict between nations had been relegated to history. In East Asia, North Korea launched an enormously successful cyber- attack against a major multi-national corporation.

In the Western Pacific, expansive maritime claims by China suggest that Beijing might be copying Russia’s playbook by ignoring international norms of conduct in increasingly pointed exchanges with U.S. allies and partners in the region. While energetically pursuing these claims, China is expanding its defense budget at a pace far greater than its economy is growing. In spite of these troubling actions, the sea services provide an opportunity to find areas where we can cooperate with China in the Asia Pacific region and beyond in areas such as humanitarian relief, disaster response, and counter-piracy efforts.

All of these conditions point towards a dangerous trend in the global security environment—an unraveling in the world order that set the conditions for much of America’s success and prosperity since the end of World War II. The world order that has existed for nearly seventyyears is based on rules of conduct by nations underpinned in large part by American military power. But as General James Mattis recently pointed out to the Senate Armed Services Committee, “The international order built on the state system is not self-sustaining. It demands tending…” The sea services have a critical role to play in tending to and maintaining the rules based international system.

3. The challenges in the global security environment will not be solved by acting alone—the sea services facilitate collective action with allies and partners. The increasingly interconnected nature of the world and complexity of the challenges we face means responses and solutions will require collective effort. If we try to solve these problems alone, we will not succeed. America’s sea services provide the foundation for collective effort because they are constantly operating forward with U.S. allies and partners. Experience has shown that effective coalitions demand U.S. leadership; this leadership is only possible when our allies and partners believe we have “skin in the game.”  The sea services are able to demonstrate tangible American commitment and give the U.S. the credibility needed to take a leading role in collective action. Furthermore, because of their expeditionary nature and ability to operate from bases afloat, the sea services allow us to act with our partners without imposing the burden of forward operating bases often associated with heavier forces.

4. Sea power provides policy makers with credible options when faced with a crisis. The sea services are able to quickly respond to crisis around the world—often before any other force is able to respond. When they arrive at the scene of a crisis, the sea services have what they need to operate; they do not need to build up infrastructure and stockpile supplies before getting to work. In addition to responding in a timely manner when they are needed most to contain a crisis, mitigate suffering or protect American lives, the sea services are built and trained to establish the conditions needed to bring in additional American resources if they are needed later. When called to act, the footprint of the sea services can be scaled to develop a response that is precisely tailored to meet the needs of the mission. This is particularly important if large numbers of boots on the ground are not needed or not wanted by policy makers.

An Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with an embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) can signal U.S. intent while remaining off shore in the early phases of a crisis; this same ARG/MEU can use a light footprint ashore while working to support local forces to resolve local problems and if necessary, quickly project American power ashore if the same situation deteriorates. Only the sea services provide this range of options to policy makers—all without having to rely on overflight or basing agreements that can be difficult to obtain in the politically complex situations that are so common in the world today.

As the sea services begin to act on the strategy described in “A Cooperative Strategy for the 21st Century: Forward, Engaged, Ready” American policy makers and the United States Congress would be well served to remember the utility of sea power as they continue deliberations on the budget. When properly resourced, American sea power is an irreplaceable tool for U.S. leaders to protect and advance a rules-based international order that ensures American prosperity.

Colonel Stephen Liszewski, U.S. Marine Corps, is a Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Before coming to CFR, he served as Commanding Officer, 11th Marine Regiment.  His combat deployments have included Iraq in 2007  and Afghanistan in 2012. The conclusions and opinions expressed are his own and do not reflect the official position of the U.S. government.