Hawks Are Calling Roughead Soft

There are some 'officials' inside the Pentagon unhappy with Admiral Roughead. Power struggles are not uncommon in the Pentagon, in fact we should all become worried if they ever do become that way. Bill Gertz takes us InsidetheRing:

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, this week further perplexed conservative defense and military officials by dismissing the Russian bombers that recently buzzed the aircraft carrier Nimitz as not threatening.

"I did not consider it to be provocative," Adm. Roughead said.

Asked whether the admiral thought the gesture was a mistake or a friendly act, Rear Adm. Frank Thorp said only that Adm. Roughead did not think it was provocative and that the admiral also stated in his meeting with reporters that it is not prudent to fly over an aircraft carrier.

U.S. jets were scrambled to intercept the two Tu-95 bombers that flew over the USS Nimitz south of Japan.

Officials said privately that it was the fourth time the Navy chief had reacted weakly to threatening or provocative encounters.

They go on to cite the other three examples.

1) The Song class submarine surface incident within 5 miles of the Kitty Hawk.
2) Iranian boat incident in the Straits of Hormuz
3) Thanksgiving port of call in Hong Kong when he was reported to express "surprise" by the event.

We don't have a bone in this fight, but we also don't hold him accountable for what his predecessors have done with the future fleet. As CNO for only 140ish days, we are willing to give him at least 1 year before judging performance. However, we get the impression these people are giving Bill Gertz opinions he can report, not the real reasons why they don't like Roughead.

The reason hawks in the Pentagon have problems with Roughead is because he isn't a hawk, his vision for the Navy isn't one of enormous aircraft carriers, battleships, and submarines sailing in formation to bring down the next competitor, rather a broader vision that begins with outreach and engagement leveraging soft power not hard power. One of the reasons we like Roughead is because we like the new Maritime Strategy, for the most part, and believe he reflects it in style very well.

We observe however that style will not make him popular, as the maritime strategy itself isn't popular. Anyone who becomes CNO makes as many enemies as friends, particularly in times of shifting priorities like we have today.

This reminds me of something zenpundit has been discussing, and a quote from Col. John Boyd regarding leadership as quoted by Martin Edwin Anderson.

“One day you will come to a fork in the road. And you’re going to have to make a decision about what direction you want to go.” [Boyd] raised his hand and pointed. “If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.” Then Boyd raised the other hand and pointed another direction. “Or you can go that way and you can do something - something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference.” He paused and stared. “To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do? Which way will you go?”

We observe that after climbing the ladder Adm. Roughead is trying to do something, not be somebody, and a lot of what he is trying to do involves change. We observe SecDef Gates and Adm. Fallon can be accused of the same thing, which is why they are unpopular in accusation in how they are handling challenges like China and Iran.

Change is a slow, despised process in the military that doesn't make leaders popular, and can often generate a culture clash. We observe Adm. Rougheads style to downplay events by those nations being belligerent for media purposes is exactly the kind of culture clash that would irritate hawks, who perceive a lack of public outrage as a sign of weakness.

The Navy and the Air Force are finding themselves outside the nations wars looking in, with a shifting political desire for global stability rather than aggressive deterrence, and leadership looking for new ways to confront problems with the military power without the application of military force. For two services focused on hard power solutions including the management of the nations nuclear arsenal, the shift to small wars and soft power is a delicate balance of traditional responsibilities and emerging challenges.

Given those changing conditions, we observe Admiral Roughead is doing a very good job, for proof simply observe the way the Air Force leadership has been overreacting, before being brought back down to solid ground. When leadership has vision, it is easy to observe. It is also easy for those who don't like the vision to take shots. Remember, the Song submarine story was first reported by Bill Gertz from sources in the Pentagon, on the eve of Adm Rougheads visit to China no less. We'd bet money those same sources are involved in pushing this story as well.