U.S. Department of Defense
Freedom of Navigation Program
Fact Sheet
Historical Background
Since the founding of the nation, the United States has asserted a vital national interest in preserving the freedom of the seas and necessarily called upon its military forces to preserve that interest. One of the first missions of a young U.S. Navy was to protect the safe shipping of U.S. commercial vessels through the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and adjoining seas, against pirates and other maritime threats. Similarly, in President Woodrow Wilson's famous Fourteen Points speech, he told Congress that one of the universal principles for which the United States and other nations were fighting World War I was "Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas." And three months before the United States entered World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered one of his fireside chats to the American people, in which he declared, "Upon our naval and air patrol ... falls the duty of maintaining the American policy of freedom of the seas." As history shows, this U.S. national interest and policy for preserving the freedom of the seas are long-standing in nature and global in scope.
U.S. Freedom of Navigation Program
As stated in the U.S. Oceans Policy (1983), the United States "will exercise and assert its rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea on a worldwide basis in a manner that is consistent with the balance of interests" reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention. Some coastal states in the world have asserted maritime claims that the United States considers to be excessive-- that is, such claims are inconsistent with the international law of the sea and impinge upon the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all states under that body of international law. The United States, however, "will not ... acquiesce in unilateral acts of other states designed to restrict the rights and freedom of the international community."
Since 1979, U.S. Presidents have directed the U.S. Government to carry out a Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program to preserve this national interest and demonstrate a non-acquiescence to excessive maritime claims asserted by coastal states. The U.S. FON Program includes: (1) consultations and representations by U.S. diplomats (i.e., U.S. Department of State), and (2) operational activities by U.S. military forces (i.e., U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) FON Program).
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