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29. May 2025

Dr. Moritz Brake in FAZ: The first shot of the next war could be fired at sea Dr. Moritz Brake in FAZ: Strengthening Europe’s Maritime Security

In a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Dr. Moritz Brake, Senior Fellow at CASSIS Bonn and Managing Director of Nexmaris GmbH, warns of the growing security challenges at sea. He stresses that Germany and Europe must improve the protection of critical maritime infrastructure – including undersea cables, LNG terminals, and offshore wind farms – as they represent vulnerable targets for sabotage.

Dr. Moritz Brake in FAZ: Maritime Security as a Key to European Resilience
Dr. Moritz Brake in FAZ: Maritime Security as a Key to European Resilience © FAZ
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Dr. Brake highlights NATO's ongoing efforts, such as Operation “Baltic Sentry,” to enhance surveillance in the Baltic Sea. However, he sees a need for further action: companies must invest in the security of their offshore assets, and Germany needs a comprehensive national maritime security strategy.

Given Europe’s dependence on global supply chains and the increasing geopolitical tensions, a robust and coherent maritime strategy is essential. Brake calls for a modern understanding of “sea power” – not as an imperial ambition, but as the ability to defend and act with presence at sea.

Only through such strategic alignment can Europe protect its interests and ensure security in the maritime domain.

https://www.faz.net/pro/weltwirtschaft/sicherheit/der-erste-schuss-des-naechsten-krieges-koennte-auf-see-fallen-110494938.html

Dr. Moritz Brake is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) and a reserve officer in the German Navy. He received his PhD from the War Studies Department of King's College London in July 2022 with a thesis on the German Navy as an instrument of foreign policy. He is a member of the German Maritime Institute (DMI) and an auditor of the French Institut des Hautes Études de Défense National (IHEDN). In addition to a Master's degree in War Studies from King's College London, Brake holds a nautical patent and an engineering degree in nautical science from Jade University in Elsfleth, Germany. In active naval service, he most recently served as a youth officer in public relations as a security policy advisor on behalf of the German government, and served in the UN mission UNIFIL (Eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon, 2007) and the EU anti-piracy mission ATALANTA in the Horn of Africa (2010 & 2011), in addition to seagoing service on merchant and warships.