And again, I personally want to commend Admiral Roughead. He was good enough to, sometime last fall, throw this proposal at me. It took me some time to think it through. It obviously would make a change both at the Mississippi shipyard and the Bath shipyard. But given the harsh economic realities, I think he made the right decision. I think he should be commended for that decision.Truly Brilliant.
On July 27th, 2007 media reports announced that Admiral Roughead would be the next CNO replacing Admiral Mullen. Admiral Roughead wasn't sworn in until September 27, 2007. If Gene Taylor is correct in saying "sometime last fall" then Admiral Roughead clearly walked in to his new post with a plan, and went to work quickly. It has only been 10 months, and consider for a moment what he did.
Imagine taking over Chief of Naval Operations in the environment he did wanting to change shipbuilding. Shipbuilding, in particular the Littoral Combat Ship and DDG-1000, is a mess. NVR compounded a rushed schedule and both Littoral Combat Ships are over cost estimates a combined $700 million and counting. The difference between the Navy's estimates, the Pentagons estimates, the CAIGs estimates, and the CBOs estimates for the DDG-1000 is often measured in billions.
But the state of the Navy is actually even more of a mess than the programs themselves. Lets be honest, when CNO Clark walks out of his post and right into the board of directors at Raytheon, who just happens to have almost all of the major DDG-1000 contracts, clearly Congressional Oversight is just broken as every other part of the system. It isn't just the legislative branch though, consider for a moment that the three primary people still in government service who have largely pushed the Navy down this road to disaster in shipbuilding are not only powerful in the Bush administration, they were all given a promotion for the work they did specific to their jobs in the Navy, and all three have had primary roles in the LCS and DDG-1000. Mess with those programs, and you'll be messing with the resumes of some powerful folks.
Every single time I post about a CO or XO who gets relieved, good folks in the Navy come here and say "this is the right thing, accountability is important." Just an observation, but if you recall back in November of 2006, I'm pretty sure the big election night represented a majority of voting Americans demanding some accountability on Capitol Hill. Regardless of your politics, that is the only way the people have a voice in accountability, and considering the shift in power that happened, one would say that voice wasn't quiet.
Where is the accountability for the ongoing problems in shipbuilding? We do not hold Gordon England, John J. Young, Jr, or Admiral Mike Mullen accountable for the billions and billions they have wasted pushing unrealistic programs while ignoring all of the observations of experts. No one has been held accountable for the enormous cost increases we have seen, hell they went after Goddard over a social behavior problem, because you know, it wasn't a job performance problem.
In the meantime the folks who have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, chasing technological holy grails, and spinning the costs and capabilities to Congress aren't held accountable. These folks have put the shipbuilding industry of the nation in peril, including thousands and thousands of jobs, and specifically the next generation. What is accountability when it comes to horrible leadership, in wartime no less? They get promoted, then people make excuses for why they shouldn't be held accountable for failure. Accountability in this DoD has a double standard, and that's a leadership issue.
And worst of all, it sends the wrong message, and the fleet is losing good Captains in droves...
Yet.... Admiral Roughead challenged the system anyway. Amazing. With Gene Taylor up front, it has been nothing short of brilliant to see the Navy apply the breaks before driving over the cliff. As we look back we recognize that it only took him ten months to do it to. It really is remarkable, and regardless which direction shipbuilding goes from here, Admiral Roughead has clearly established himself as the man running the shop. Without the DDG-1000, the fleet will grow, and right now that is not trivial.
If major changes in shipbuilding is how we remember his first year, is anyone else looking forward to seeing what year two will look like?
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