US Naval Institute Official Announcement on Mission Change

The United States Naval Institute has published an official member ballot announcement regarding the mission statement change.

A few things annoy me about this statement.

The use of the phrase "Proactive advocate" suggests to me the organization would change into a political lobby. That seems to me to be the fastest way to get the USNI thrown off the campus at Annapolis.

"Proper role" is just as bad in my opinion, and in the context of events taking place around the world in 2011 - shockingly ignorant. I'll be revisiting this topic very soon.

I could not be more disappointed by the decision to push this change by the Board of Directors, and when you combine the lack of transparency and the removal as CEO of General Wilkerson as part of pushing this change, I begin to wonder what the motivations are.

Apparently, the Board of Directors at USNI honestly believes that some specific message is most important, as if only someone could perfectly articulate the right collection of phrases and speeches then "global seapower" would suddenly emerge as a national priority.

To me, such logic reveals a lack of understanding regarding modern communications, which means these folks would be completely inept as advocates anyway.