Who controls America’s waterways? It sounds like a question with an obvious answer, but a recent episode of the Maritime Nation podcast from the Center for Maritime Strategy makes the case that it is anything but settled.
What the episode covers
In the season five opener, host Admiral James Foggo sits down with Jennifer Carpenter and Sara Fuentes of the American Maritime Partnership to talk about the strategic fight for American waterways. The conversation deliberately steps away from the familiar trade and pricing debates that usually dominate Jones Act discussions. Instead, it treats the law as what it has always been at its core: strategic infrastructure.
The guests describe the Jones Act as a foundational homeland security law, one that keeps America’s deep sea and inland waterways fleet in American hands. The waterways it protects are not just shipping lanes. They are the arteries that move fuel, food, and goods through the interior of the country and along its coasts every single day. When those vessels are built, owned, and crewed by Americans, the nation controls its own supply lines. When they are not, someone else does.
Why it matters
This framing is the right one. Debates about the Jones Act too often get reduced to short-term cost arguments while ignoring what the law actually secures: a domestic fleet the country can rely on in a crisis, tens of thousands of trained American mariners, and full visibility into who is operating on our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Transportation Institute has made this same case since 1967. National security and economic security are not separate conversations, and the Jones Act sits at the intersection of both. When military leaders, industry voices, and policy institutions like the Center for Maritime Strategy are all reaching the same conclusion, it reflects a simple reality: a strong American fleet is not a luxury. It is a requirement.
Watch the full episode from the Center for Maritime Strategy: https://centerformaritimestrategy.org/publications/the-battle-for-american-waterways/