Ensign Xavier Brenza

In the opening scenes of Top Gun: Maverick, Admiral Chester Cain tells Maverick, “These planes you’ve been testing, Captain, one day, sooner than later, they won’t need pilots at all . . . the future is coming, and you’re not in it.” The Coast Guard faces a similar reckoning. Autonomous technology is an attractive solution to many maritime security challenges.

is a cutterman and international affairs officer currently assigned as an instructor at the Coast Guard Academy. Her previous assignments include executive officer on board the USCGC  (WMEC-618), international port security liaison officer at Activities Europe, and executive officer and maritime law enforcement boarding officer on board the USCGC (WPB-1327).

Can a small state successfully defend its maritime claims against a nuclear-armed opponent? Are smaller actors able to win below the threshold of high-intensity war? Or was Thucydides right in saying that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must? While pondering these questions, today’s disputes in the South China Sea or future concerns in the Arctic may come to mind.