Lessons from winning the Cold War at sea

At the outset of his presidency Ronald Reagan launched a major naval rearmament programme, with the famous target of a ‘600-ship navy’ and a forward maritime strategy to take on the Soviet Navy in its bastions. This talk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies on 13 September 2018 featured one of the chief architects and drivers of this programme, Dr John Lehman.

Reagan's reassertion of US naval power had a significant impact on the latter stages of the Cold War. Today, the naval arena is being contested again in a way that it has not been since the Cold War, by both old and new actors. After significant post-Cold-War cuts, the US Navy is aiming for a new build-up to a 355-ship fleet. There may be lessons to be learned from the 1980s. In his new book, Oceans Ventured, Dr Lehman reveals some of the thinking and dynamics behind the Reagan build-up, and elaborates on some of the lessons for today.

Dr John F Lehman was Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. Prior to that he served on the National Security Council staff under Dr Henry Kissinger, was deputy director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and served as a delegate to the Mutual Balanced Force Reduction talks. He is chairman of J F Lehman and Company. In 2003/4 he served as a member of the 9/11 Commission. He also served for 25 years as a reserve US Navy aviator.