Overview

SEA POWER 2025 is a research initiative dedicated to the future of sea power and U.S. naval policy. Instead of a hypothetical time horizon decades in the future, this project recognizes 2025 as an inflection point for sea power due to multiple recent events. First, the U.S. Navy has long enjoyed uncontested sea control, however, the People’s Liberation Army Navy is now the largest navy in the world. To complicate matters, Ukraine’s asymmetric tactics in the Black Sea and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea indicate that emerging technologies are changing the nature of naval warfare with implications for future strategy and force structure. Finally, shifts in the global economy are making seaborne trade more vulnerable to interdiction by state and non-state actors. In response to these events, policymakers require a clear vision of purpose to justify naval budgets. Strategic clarity is also required to link S&T development to defined operational needs. Co-chaired by Admiral Chas Richard and Dr. John Robinson, SEA POWER 2025 will address these challenges through research and follow-on engagement events to support policymakers and practitioners in maintaining U.S. naval advantage. 

 

Co-chairs

Dr. John Robinson

Dr. John Robinson is the NSPC’s Director of Academic Programs. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses focused on national security, including Innovating for Defense, an experiential course that pairs student teams with sponsors from the Department of Defense (DoD) to solve real-world national security problems.

Dr. Robinson retired from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2024 at the rank of Commander. On active duty, he supported combat operations in the Persian Gulf onboard USS CONSTELLATION and in Afghanistan with a special operations task force. Dr. Robinson’s research interests include international security and naval affairs; he holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Virginia, and a M.A. from the U.S. Naval War College. 

 

 

 

Admiral Charles Richard

Admiral Charles A. Richard (Retired) is a former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), serving from November 2019 to December 2022. At STRATCOM, Admiral Richard oversaw the global command and control of all the nation’s nuclear forces to achieve the national security objective of strategic deterrence. He was responsible for more than 150,000 people conducting strategic deterrence and nuclear operations, nuclear command and control, global strike, missile defense, electromagnetic spectrum operations, and analysis and targeting. Adm. Richard has a unique breadth and depth of operational and policy experience in undersea and strategic warfare. His flag assignments included Commander, Submarine Forces; Deputy Commander, U.S. Strategic Command; Director of Undersea Warfare (OPNAV N97); Deputy Commander of Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike at STRATCOM; and Commander of Submarine Group 10.  

 Admiral Richard is a native of Decatur, Alabama and graduated with honors from the University of Alabama in 1982.  He earned master’s degrees with honors from the Catholic University of America and the Naval War College. 

 

Student Researchers

Lieutenant Sarah Crews

Lieutenant Crews currently serves as the Surface Warfare Instructor at the University of Virginia NROTC Unit.  At sea, she served as the Strike Officer onboard USS McCAMPBELL (DDG 85), homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. While onboard, she participated in Freedom of Navigation Operations, Taiwan Strait Transits, and numerous multi-national exercises, including Talisman Sabre and Malabar.  LT Crews then served as the Fire Control Officer onboard USS SPRUANCE (DDG 111), deploying to Seventh Fleet with the ABRAHAM LINCOLN STRIKE GROUP in 2022. 

Originally from Montgomery Village, MD, LT Crews earned her commission through NROTC Miami University of Ohio in 2018. She also holds a Master’s in Leadership and Public Policy from UVA’s Batten School. 

 

Ben Prince

Ben Prince graduated in December 2024, majoring in Global Studies Security and Justice. He interned with the NSPC in the summer of 2024, focusing on civil-military relations and modern recruitment challenges in the U.S. military. In addition, he worked as a research assistant on various Belt and Road Initiative Projects, about which he wrote his undergraduate thesis.

 

 

 

Kelsey Cashman

Kelsey is a second year Accelerated M.P.P. candidate from Annapolis, MD. She received her Bachelor of Arts from UVA, where she majored in Foreign Affairs. Kelsey’s areas of interest include intelligence analysis of the Middle East and North Africa region, but she is also interested in Great Power Conflict. She is currently researching maritime security efforts in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for the NSPC.

 

 

 

Emma Hartman

Emma Hartman is a third-year student from Athens, Ohio, majoring in Public Policy and Leadership with a double major in Spanish and a minor in Public Writing and Rhetoric. Her national security interests focus on the intersection of defense innovation and global strategy, with an emphasis on cybersecurity, great power competition, and international law.