America's Annual Naval Patrol Report and How to Fix it
Matthew Krull
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) annual Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program may be a missed opportunity to increase the understanding and awareness of an important aspect of U.S. foreign policy- the threat posed by excessive maritime claims. As required by U.S. law, the DoD’s annual report serves as little more than a list of foreign nations’ excessive maritime claims that were challenged by the DoD during the previous year; no data is included to explain how operations are conducted and the report neglects to outline a strategy for the program. Redesigning the report could make it more impactful, providing background on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and excessive maritime claims while documenting activities of the past year. In addition, such documentation could be done in a way that reinforces how these “deliberately planned†and “legally reviewed†operations challenge those excessive maritime claims.
Source URL (retrieved on May 31, 2018):
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/americas-annual-naval-patrol-report-how-fix-it-26020?page=show
