In line with US President Trump’s focus on shipping and national security the new head of the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) has a strong military background.  The mission statement of the MARAD currently slotted as part of the Department of Transportation (USDOT) is: “To foster, promote and develop the maritime industry of the United States to meet the nation’s economic and security needs.”

Founded in 1950, just as the Cold War was emerging and the United States was gearing up for action in the Korean War, the agency has presided over an increasingly diminished US fleet, and tried to reconcile commercial concerns versus the needs to support US military efforts in the event of a conflict overseas. Importantly, in recent years, the agency has increasingly played a role supporting the port infrastructure- a critical part of both the commercial and security apparatus.

The last few months, really beginning on November 6, 2024- the day after the election that saw Donald Trump victorious, has seen great attention on the shipping’s role in United States’ national security. This shift in emphasis was evidenced with news that the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology – which oversees the USDOT – had received the nomination of military veteran Brent Sadler, earlier in the week. The nomination would need confirmation of the Senate committee, and then a “thumbs up” from the US Senate.

Sadler’s background has military written throughout. According to his biography on the website of the Heritage Foundation where he has been serving as a Senior Fellow in its Center for National Defense, he is a US Naval Academy graduate with a follow-on degree from the National War College. Indeed, he is the author of a book US Naval Power in the 21st Century; A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat, published in 2023. He has extensive experience in Asian matters, including work in the US Navy’s Pacific Command. His final Navy assignment was China Branch of Navy Staff- at U.S. military headquarters in the Pentagon. Earlier in his career, he had served aboard U.S. nuclear submarines.

Possible tools for bridging the commercial and security aspects of MARAD tie into the Office of Shipbuilding contemplated in Donald Trump’s speech to Congress earlier in March. According to media closely following the US Navy’s “Office of Naval Intelligence”, an Executive Order regarding the Shipbuilding Office, still in the draft stages, would see MARAD working closely with the Department of Defense, and the White House National Security Advisor on proposed legislation that would create a US “Strategic Commercial Fleet”.