Sea Control 596: The Last Navigator with Steve Thomas

Links:  https://thecultureshack.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/updated-resilience-roadmap- 2.0-.pdf https://blog.schee.info/2024/11/04/civil-defense-in-taiwan-its-not-just-one-or-two-groups/ https://blog.schee.info/2025/10/12/zero-based-mobilization-a-rapid-assessment-of-the- recent-hualien-flood-disaster-and-the-modernization-of-taiwans-mobilization-systems/ https://blog.schee.info/2023/05/28/disinformation-is-an-information-environment- problem/ https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-10-27/taiwan-ham-radio-amateurs- civil-defense   Bio: TH Schee is a Taiwanese tech entrepreneur, lecturer and policy advisor for civil defense, licensed amateur radio operator, and search and rescue practitioner.

Thomas M. Duffy is a retired American diplomat and naval officer writing as an independent researcher. His interests are naval history and maritime strategy. Tom’s assignments over his 38-year overall career with the US Government included service aboard USS Cochrane (DDG-21) during the Tanker War and as a maritime strategist in the Pentagon with the US Navy’s Strategic Concepts Group (OP-603). After joining the Foreign Service, he served primarily in the Middle East, including as the first State Department Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) with the US FIFTH Fleet in Bahrain and as US Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tom holds a BA in Government from Notre Dame and an MA in War Studies from King’s College, London. He is a graduate of the US Naval War College and taught about strategy at the US National War College. J. Overton is co-host of the Sea Control podcast and edited the essay collection “Seapower by Other Means: Naval Contributions to National Objectives Beyond Sea Control, Power Projection, and Traditional Service Missions.” Links - Tanker War in the Gulf: Operation Earnest Will, Diplomacy and Seapower in Practice Stop Phrasing Military Moves as ‘Deterrence’ Tom’s Linkedin page

Links No paywall “Erasing the American Global Military Footprint Won’t Make a Better World,” in Newsweek “Five Recommendations for Left-of-Boom Security Assistance to Taiwan,”in War on the Rocks “The Taiwan Question: Cross-Strait Relations and US Policy Past, Present, and Future,” virtual lecture for the Naval War College Foundation Paywalled “Muddied Waters: Freedom-of-Navigation Operations as Signals in the South China Sea,” in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations “New Imagined Geographies into Old Geobodies: Problems and Prospects for China and Taiwan in the South China Sea,” in Territory, Politics, Governance “Security in the Asia-Pacific and Signaling at Sea,” in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific

Ross Hill is the founder and CEO of Insight Forward (IF), a Geopolitical Risk Intelligence advisory service specializing in corporate intelligence. He has over 15 years’ experience in public and private sector intelligence. Dr. Treston Wheat is currently the Chief Geopolitical Officer with Insight Forward specializing in geopolitical risk and red teaming. Dr. Wheat is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University where he teaches intelligence analysis.  J. Overton is co-host of the Sea Control podcast and edited the essay collection “Seapower by Other Means: Naval Contributions to National Objectives Beyond Sea Control, Power Projection, and Traditional Service Missions.” Links - Insight Forward Iran Escalation Scenario: What a humanitarian-framed intervention could mean for regional stability and corporate risk Pestle and Mortar newsletter Boardroom Statecraft

Links: Steve’s website “The Last Navigator: A Young Man, and Ancient Mariner, the Secrets of the Sea” The Last Navigator documentarySteve’s lecture at the US Naval Academy

Links1. Elsa Kania's LinkedIn profile.

Links1."The Trump-class Battleship: Spectacle Wins Out over Combat Power," by Emma Salisbury, Foreign Policy Research Institute, January 8, 2026.2. "Want of Frigates: Why Is It So Hard For America to Buy Small Surface Combatants?" by Emma Salisbury, Foreign Policy Research Institute, December 1, 2025.3. "Atlantic Bastion: The Future of Anti-Submarine Warfare," by Emma Salisbury, Foreign Policy Research Institute, August 11, 2025.4. Emma Salisbury FPRI page.

Links1. "For 250 years, it’s been ‘change or lose’ for our military. Here’s what needs changing now," by Robert Neller and Peter Singer, Defense One, June 22, 2025.2. "Change or Lose: Past and Future War Lessons on 250th Birthday of the US Army and US Marine Corps," by Robert Neller and Peter Singer, Youtube, November 10, 2025.3. "Thinking First, Adapting Fast: Debating the Marine Corps’ Need for the Information Group," by Brian Kerg, War on the Rocks, November 7, 2025.4. "Kill It or Fix It: Why Marine Corps Information Warfare Has Failed After a Decade of MIGs," by Dan Burns, Information Professionals Association, August 20, 2025.5. "Killing the MIG is the Last Thing We Should Do," by Colonel Ray Gerber, USMC (Ret.), Information Professionals Association, September 7, 2025.6. "Blinding First, Striking Fast: Why the Marine Corps Needs Information Groups," by Ben Jensen and Ian Fletcher, War on the Rocks, October 13, 2025.

Links1. “Bases on the Aleutians Islands Would Project Power Across the Pacific,” by Steven Hulse, Proceedings, January 2025. 

Links1. "Maritime Statecraft and its Future," by Steve Brock and Hunter Stires, CIMSEC, October 21, 2025.2. "SECNAV Del Toro Calls for a New, Bold Maritime Statecraft in Era of Intense Strategic Competition," Department of the Navy, September 23, 2023.