Sea Control

Rae Baker is an expert in Maritime Intelligence, focused on hunting vessels and tracking elusive AIS signals in her role as Senior OSINT Analyst in Adversary Intelligence. Rae specializes in Human Targeting and Corporate Reconnaissance, utilizing her skills to chart illicit organizations. These practiced skills serve well in Rae’s volunteer positions with OSINT-oriented non-profits and speaking engagements at Recon Village; DEFCON, Shmoocon, and the Layer 8 conference. Further emphasis on her skills and knowledge can be demonstrated in the certifications and awards she’s achieved, including Associate of ISC2 (CISSP), SANS GOSI, AWS Solutions Architect, and Trace Labs OSINT CTF First Place Black Badge as well as the Most Valuable OSINT badge. J. Overton is a co-host of the Sea Control podcast, editor of “Sea Power By Other Means,” and a member of the Military Writers Guild. Links - Rae’s Web Site DEEP DIVE: Exploring the Real-world Value of Open Source Intelligence Rae’s LinkedIn page

Ian T. Brown is a retired Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter pilot, with multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Pacific throughout his career. He has written dozens of articles, reviews, and short stories on military history, military theory, future war, and wargaming, to include the book A New Conception of War: John Boyd, the U.S. Marines, and Maneuver Warfare (Marine Corps University Press, 2018), which was added to the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Professional Reading List in 2019 and remains on the list today. He has also contributed to or developed several commercial wargame designs, including the card game #Maneuver Warfare, published by the Dietz Foundation in 2025. 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 - Snowmobiles and Grand Ideals: John Boyd's Vision for Thriving in Chaos. New Conception of War Marine Corps University Press online order form (can be used for hard copies of all their books, including “New Conception of War” and “Snowmobiles”) #Maneuver Warfare card game:

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 documentary Steve’s lecture at the US Naval Academy

Bio: Dr. Elsa Kania received her PhD in Government from Harvard University. She served as a visiting scholar for the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, as an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and is an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. LinkedIn

Dr. Emma Salisbury is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s National Security Program, an Associate Fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre, and a Contributing Editor at War on the Rocks. She writes widely on military-industrial matters, geopolitics, and national security in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe, with a particular focus on the maritime. She is based just outside London in the United Kingdom. Links 1. Proposed US Battleship: https://www.fpri.org/article/2026/01/the-trump-class-battleship-spectacle-wins-out-over-combat-power/ 2. Constellation-Class Frigate: https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/12/want-of-frigates-why-is-it-so-hard-for-america-to-buy-small-surface-combatants/ 3. Atlantic Bastion: https://www.fpri.org/article/2025/08/atlantic-bastion-the-future-of-anti-submarine-warfare/ 4. Dr. Salisbury at FPRI: https://www.fpri.org/contributor/emma-salisbury/

Links 1. "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.

“Bases on the Aleutians Islands Would Project Power Across the Pacific,” by Steven Hulse, USNI (January 2025).

Links 1. "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.

“Carrier 2.0: The Drone Carrier Revolution,” by Colton Byers, War Quants (December 28, 2024). “Damn the Torpedoes: The Return of Naval Mining,” by Colton Byers, War Quants (January 31, 2025).

Dr. Craig Whiteside is Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College resident program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and the International Centre for Counterterrorism-The Hague. Whiteside’s current work focuses on the leadership succession and military doctrine of the Islamic State militant group, and he co-authored The ISIS Reader: Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement (Hurst Publishers/Oxford University Press, 2020). His current book is Non-State Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects (Routledge, July 2025). He is the 2022 winner of the US Naval War College Excellence in Research Award. His publications can be found here. Links: Non-state Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects https://www.routledge.com/Non-state-Special-Operations-Capabilities-and-Effects/Rice-Whiteside/p/book/9781032594514?srsltid=AfmBOoqur7WH1KdVFwx-v-itaXGYJ4GaMwNHJH5i67tZDV34tj1q2DG6 The Isis Reader https://theisisreader.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web @CraigAWhiteside on X or @craigwhiteside@bsky.social on BlueSky

Links: Outsourcing Security at Sea—The Return of Private Maritime-Security Companies and Their Role in Twenty-First-Century Maritime Security, Naval War College Review Irregular Warfare Initiative Pieter W.G. Zhao is a PhD Researcher and Junior Lecturer at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focusing on history and international relations in the maritime domain. He’s also a Nonresident Fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative. His doctoral research analyzes the changing dynamics in the 21st-century maritime warfare and security environment from an applied historical perspective, focusing on non-state actors and irregular warfare at sea. He obtained his BA and MA in History from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, followed by a second Master’s degree in International Security studies from Sciences Po, Paris, and the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. LinkedIn BlueSky Contact Page 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.”

Guest bio: Elaine Helm is communications professional and former journalist who lives and works in the Seattle area. She was the military reporter for the Kitsap Sun and the founder and editor of the pioneering Northwest Navy News site. Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainehelm/

Links 1. "What Moral Leadership Looks Like," by William Spears, CIMSEC, July 16, 2025. 2. Stoicism as a Warrior Philosophy: Insights on the Morality of Military Service, by William Spears, Casemate, 2025. 3. William Spears website.

Links 1. "What Imperial Germany Teaches About China’s Naval Basing Ambitions," by Chuck Ridgeway, Proceedings, May 2025.

Links 1. Sebastian Bae Twitter.

Dr Ronald C. Po Shaping the Blue Dragon [Amazon] Further Reading: Dr Xing Hang on the Zheng regime in Taiwan Dr Ling-wei Kung on the Manchu's maritime awareness prior to establishing their capital in Beijing