Honest Opinions on China

At the USNI/AFCEA West Conference last week there was an excellent panel on the last day that focused on the operational challenges and partnership opportunities that exist with China. It started out as a casual discussion about China, but about 21 minutes into the panel Captain James Fanell, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Information Operations for US Pacific Fleet decided he was going to give his honest opinion.

In China it is illegal to give an honest opinion about China, and there are times I wonder if the same law exists in Washington, DC. Several folks are discussing Captain Fanell's comments, even if he is just a Captain. I leave my thoughts over at the USNI Blog.

Enjoy! And as you would expect, Toshi Yoshihara is great too. I highly recommend Toshi Yoshihara's book (coauthored by the always brilliant James Holmes) Red Star Over the Pacific for those who haven't read it.

Milbloggies Nomination

I'm not really big on awards or contests, it's just not my thing. I'm actually very lazy about those kind of logistical aspects of running this site to be honest, a good example being how last night I finally added the banner fort the Defense IQ top 10 blog award awarded to Information Dissemination earlier this year.

But it has come to my attention that it is the community that is out nominating the blog for awards, so I need to be a bit more responsive to these things in respect to the community. Fair point.

Last year I went to the milblogger conference, but full disclosure, I went because I wanted to see the excellent Navy PAOs who ran the social media shop who were in attendance, and because I was asked to write about it for USNI. It was also the same weekend last year as the USNI annual meeting, and there was no chance I was missing last years meeting.

As you may or may not be aware, the annual Milbloggie awards are for active and retired members of the military - and I am neither. Still, the other day I got an email from someone involved asking to confirm that active and/or retired members write for Information Dissemination. Now I know why.

CDR Bryan McGrath (ret) and CDR Chris Rawley are why Information Dissemination has been nominated as 2012 Milbloggies Finalists for the 2012 US Navy category. Other finalists for the 2012 Navy category include Feminine Fatigues (JO aviator), Navy Operational Stress Control, USNI Blog, and Military Dad (JO SWO).

Congratulations to Bryan and Chris, the nominations for this apparently came from the ID community in recognition of the excellence both of you contribute regularly.

Voting is expected to begin on Tuesday.

P.S. As I have said many times, I will support any JO who writes, because it is my sincere hope that JOs who write about life as JOs will begin writing about more professional topics in the future as the Navy becomes their profession rather than simply their job. I think it is great to see 2 JOs on that short list, and I highly recommend any senior officers (active or retired) who may read this post swing by and congratulate both JOs. Foster the future, pay it forward.

Please Vote Navy

Yes. I have heard all the punchlines and jokes regarding what a contest on the internet is... but I am going to ask anyway.

Please, hit this link and vote in is this little popularity contest going on at the milbloggers website. You can do it for me, or for yourself if you want, but to be honest...

We need to do it for the folks in the Navy. It has been suggested I need to recommend you vote for the USNI Blog. I would recommend exactly that, but honestly, and I say this as a writer for the USNI blog - it isn't important whether USNI Blog wins or not.

What really matters here is that the Navy category gets an enormous number of votes, and the only way that happens in this tiny field of blogs is if this community goes all in. These are the choices, and based on frequency I think USNI Blog wins going away, but to each their own.

Navy Live - The official Navy blog. I read it because I know many of you don't. Yeah, one would think that an organization with a budget the size of the US Navy - never mind an organization with its own media shop - could produce something interesting more than 2-3 times a week.

The Sand Docs - The story of a Navy Forward Surgical Team in Afghanistan. I never even knew that blog existed before today.

Surfing Surgeon Stuck in the Sand - I'm guessing the name implies the context? Again, first time I saw this blog was today. Clearly Navy Medicine needs their own private blog directory.

US Fleet Forces Command Blog - Ready Fleet...Global Reach. Now we are talking, Admiral Harvey's Blog is fantastic. I've still never met Admiral Harvey, and he is one of only two Admirals in the Navy I believe I would really enjoy meeting (Pandolfe being #2).

USNI Blog - of the blogs mentioned, this one is updated most frequently and when I'm not busy fighting the Board of Directors - I like to think I contribute useful content there.

OK so clearly milbloggers is a military.com Army centric community focused on people centric content and issues. Nothing wrong with that. If 100 of the minimum 15,000 people who will visit this blog this week even knew about milbloggers having a voting contest like this before I discuss it in this post - I'd be shocked. That community just isn't this audience.

But that is why we, the little immature corner of the internet focused on Navy issues, needs you to vote. Eventually we are going to have to drag that bunch towards a more mature position of military affairs if the milblogging brand is ever going to mature into something relevant, and the only way I think we can do it is by representing ourselves.

So yes, you sitting at the desk at CSBA or CNA or RAND or staffer on Capital Hill or in the Pentagon or deployed overseas or in San Diego or Norfolk or Newport or Mayport or wherever you might come to ID from today - please hit this link and vote in this little popularity contest knowing it really is for a greater good.

Only you can turn the Navy category into one with enough size those Army dudes who run that show over there take note, because on Saturday when they have the milblogger conference - if the Navy has put out enough votes - it is going to help my friend at CHINFO Captain David Werner (also known as @NavyNews) inform the audience of Army nerds at the Milblogger conference on Saturday how the broad official and unofficial Navy social media community has left them and the rest of the military services in the dust.

Why? Simple, because we are more interesting, and we are more relevant. Unless you write for BlackFive or the Small Wars Journal, don't even think about suggesting otherwise.

United States Naval Institute: Some Thoughts by Dr. Richard Kohn

The following thoughts on the mission change suggested by the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Institute come from Dr. Richard Kohn. Dr. Kohn, currently a Professor of History and Peace, War, and Defense at The University of North Carolina, has previously served as the Chief of Air Force History. He has been called one of America’s top military historians, and has written about the value of dissent, and proper expression of that dissent, in the military. Dr. Kohn has serious reservations about the Board of Directors’ desire to change the United States Naval Institute and has given permission to reprint this anecdote:

Whether the Navy deserves it or not, the US Naval Institute, its "Proceedings," and its other programs (not least the book program) have been the most active, independent, professional, useful, and respected institution and journal among the armed forces for many decades. Tom Wilkerson has been an outstanding leader.

Such a change would be catastrophic for the Navy, and its professionalism.

When I was Chief of Air Force History in the 1980s, Barry Goldwater and I were chatting one day in the Secretary's conference room, at a promotion, decoration, or retirement ceremony (I don't remember which), and he turned to me and with passion said, "We need a Naval Institute; the Air Force needs an institution like that!!" I explained to him briefly why we did not have such an institution and why we didn't need one (knowing that its independence, above all, would not be possible given the Air Force's history and "DNA" about air power, and the need to foster independence of viewpoint among the institutions already operating in the Air Force). He wasn't having any, and indeed badgered the Air Force Director of Public Affairs on the subject, in addition to me.

Those who are advocating such a change ought to ponder this anecdote--it's quite meaningful in a number of ways.

The United States Naval Institute is the envy of the other service branches. The open forum for ideas has been lacking in the defense world for members of the Army and Air Force while the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard have benefitted greatly from the ideas generated by the Institute’s "open forum."

Is it time for USNI to become like the Air Force Association (which “educates the public about the critical role of aerospace power in the defense of our nation; advocates aerospace power and a strong national defense”) or the Association of the United States Army (which to “support all aspects of national security while advancing the interests of America's Army and the men and women who serve”), organizations which have little standing in the arena of ideas?

I think not.

Talking Naval History and Navy Wargaming

Heard about the conversation about Naval History at the United States Naval Academy? The original post was very interesting. The follow up was very compelling. An outside observation by a civilian was very encouraging.

But I think in the end what I appreciated most was seeing someone in Navy public affairs address the issue professionally and directly in a blog comment. Well done.

This week I found myself reading about the value of naval wargaming as it was discussed over email and reading about the value of naval history as it was debated in the blogosphere; and both of these conversations served as a fresh reminder that my hobbies are neither as unique nor as trivial as I long presumed they were.

Regarding the simi-private naval wargaming discussion that some of you have likely observed as I have, my only comment is this - there is no reason why the Naval War College isn't running an open source project on SourceForge for the development of a networked, Enterprise naval simulation system that can scale to multiple locations and be multi-player. The University systems in the US are saturated with video game programmers right now - some of whom are very talented, and if someone could come up with a system for measuring combat power, the implementation into software wouldn't be as expensive as you think if you have the right folks running the project from the NWC.

Video games are excellent branding tools, as SOCOM has made obvious, which means a naval simulation could be legitimately sponsored and funded from a number of offices N1-N9 and be a legitimate expense, or investment, depending upon how you look at it.

In fact, the biggest challenge would be deciding whether the game should be real-time or a play by email turn based system. I favor play by email, but I'm also one of those nerds who enjoyed table top Harpoon, although I'm also admitted a nerd who consumed time writing my own custom DBs for the digital version.

Observing the Political Non-State Organization in Cyberspace

You may or may not have heard, but I started a new job in early January. It is odd actually, I'm no longer my own boss. The perks are also nice, instead of working up to 80 hours a week I am actually only working 40 a week now. It is really nice.

From a content perspective the new job means I am under much less restrictive rules when discussing cyber now, so I will probably start talking about cyber warfare a great deal more. It is a professional interest, and one of the only topics where I feel my resume suggests I am legitimately an expert.

I may have mentioned this before, but people often ask why I blog about the Navy. The answer is, I had a lot of theories on social software and wanted to test them out, so I started a blog. Contractually I was never allowed to discuss what I do professionally, so I wrote about something I like (maritime strategy, history, and the US Navy) instead. The rest is history. Had I been allowed to, this blog would have been for computer nerds instead of Navy nerds. Oh well, these days it seems they are one and the same.

In the spirit of my new found freedom, I'm discussing the organization Anonymous this week over at USNI. It's somewhat shallow, but I've never actually written about cyber warfare in public forums before and it will take some time to learn how to do it responsibly.

Lets Talk Navy

Series of articles incoming on lots of topics.

First one covering LCS is here.

I'll Never Catch Up

OK so I felt like I needed to write something down, and I wrote that down at USNI. Think about it before replying quickly, because it is a more complicated issue than we want it to be.

Then I was about to write more stuff down when I realized I still have hundreds of email to read.

Then somehow I got distracted by this article that is full of win in the Feb 2011 issue of Proceedings, where I was half way through reading when my wife comes up behind me to remind me that Mark Montgomery is her favorite sailor - because while at the Current Strategy Forum a few years ago the then Captain Montgomery charmed the hell out of her over dinner and desert. The real story is actually much worse for me, as the sailors charmed her from another table and a "Moose" was involved...

Now I am looking out my window thinking the next few days will involve lots of quality time with my snow shovel...

So if you've emailed me and are waiting for something - give me a few days to catch up. Are there topics I need to discuss - you bet. Stuff is coming, but I'm moving real slow as I wish I was still in San Diego but instead find myself in the middle of a brutal upstate NY winter.

No really, check out this USNI post I wrote, these issues are important. Maybe if we keep talking about these issues someone from the Navy will be answer the question that no one in the Navy can give a good answer to yet:

What the hell does 10th fleet do?

What is funny about that question is that the best answers come from people who have no freakin clue whatsoever, but every sailor I've ever asked tells me how important 10th fleet is - because that is what their boss told them. My concern is how no one in the real fleet can actually answer the question, and 10th fleet is drawing money from those folks.

I'm still very skeptical that cyber is a major DoD function, because I'm thinking it needs to be a civilian function. I have not heard a good argument why offensive cyber in the DoD is a good idea when even a super targeted cyber attack like Stuxnet leaves collateral damage all across the Asian continent, including potentially a few satellites.

Under the very odd way the US government is treating threats in cyberspace so far to date, how do we square the circle of offensive cyber from the DoD that inadvertently or even intentionally strikes American computer systems?

Keep in mind that has already happened, and no one cared because the damage was very small. What happens when the damage isn't small?

On Budgets and Opportunity

I'm really enjoying sunny San Diego, my goodness please Lord let me do this every year in January. When I flew out of Albany, NY on Sunday afternoon the temperature was 4 degrees. When I landed in Vegas for the 'torturous two-hour layover in which I won and lost 50 bucks' the temperature in Albany was -7. This week is sunny and 75 every day I am here. That paragraph was written with violins and heavenly music playing in my head...

Anyway. I'll be blogging over at USNI about WEST 2011 for those who want to follow my thoughts. The first panel yesterday was easily the highlight of my day. I had previously met Ronald O'Rourke and Victor Addison, and have always wanted to meet Mark Hagerott and Robbie Harris. For the record, Captain Munsch was really good too. My initial thoughts on their discussion is here, and I'll be pushing to get a video online - it really was a good discussion with some innovative thinking as you might expect from such an all-star group. I know I'm going to be thinking about a lot of things said by those folks awhile, so there will be more writing over time.

Today is Air/Sea Battle and Bob Work's speech, followed by some time hanging out with sailors - which I always look forward to. For those of you who are attending, I usually go to the USNI area between sessions so look for me there, or find Mary because she knows all.

Leadership and Accountability

Have you ever heard the song 'Tubthumping" by British anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba? This is my version, probably the longest post I've ever posted on a blog.

A follow up to this.

Leadership and Accountability

I am very proud of this, as I think it is the most important thing I have written in many weeks. I am going to get killed for writing it, but no one else in the Navy community can say out loud what needs to be said.

Bloggers like me don't shape opinions, rather we simply offer a reflection of common opinions.

When a Leader Writes...

See here. A few Admirals saying interesting things.

On the SSN Exam Cheating Article

I have posted my reaction to the Daily Beast article discussed by Robert Farley over at the US Naval Institute blog.

Am I being too cruel to the author? Perhaps, but as the early comments in Robert's post suggest, I am certain that my opinion of the author will reflect a majority of opinions by the Navy community at large that reads The Daily Beast article. I also think the culture issue raised is too serious to dismiss outright simply because the author is remarkably ignorant in regards to the value of submarines in the 21st century. Once you trim off the authors opinions from the article and focus on his testimony of experiences as a recently retired submarine officer, there are some pretty serious allegations being made that cannot nor should not be dismissed.

You can read my comments here.

CHINFO's Twelfth Commandment

"A large and growing number of our Sailors, their families and friends are employing any number of information sharing systems in their professional and personal lives. These environments are in many cases ungoverned, and while our service members gain tremendous benefit from them, it isn't without risks to our people and our operations."

- Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert , Vice Chief of Naval Operations

I have never met RDML Dennis Moynihan, Chief of Information for the US Navy, but it is one of my goals for 2010. The year is not over, but I admit it has not been the year I envisioned in regards to my consistency for blog contribution. Like many in the Navy I get Rhumb Lines every day, and like some of that many I actually read it every day. It is a great format with useful information, and in my opinion it should be posted every day to the US Navy's official blog.

Why? Because like I tell my authors, establishing routine and expectations is critical to establishing their brand on this blog - consistency is important. I only wish I did a better job practicing what I preach.

Thursday's Rhumb Lines was about social media, and contained some very important information. These guidelines are critically important to examine - because almost all of it is very important safely information.

When posting information on social media sites it is important understand:

1. Everything online is potentially available to everyone in the world, including co-workers, adversaries and criminals.
2. Information posted online can remain there - forever. It can then be used in ways its originator never intended.
3. Individuals are personally responsible for what they post online.

All three of these points are important. The internet is written in ink, not pencil. On the internet you are defined and evaluated by what you say, not who you are. Social media is a reputation based industry where credentials are established by your content. It is actually why a blogger with good content can be anonymous and yet relevant, but also why not being anonymous means your reputation will be determined by your content.

Ways to Mitigate Risks in Social Media:

1. Even if you aren't using social media, others can still post information or photos of you. Be aware of this. Let your friends and family know if you would prefer your information and photos to remain private.
2. Use recommended privacy settings for Facebook and other social networking sites.
3. Don’t “friend” strangers.
4. Never discuss information online that could jeopardize operations security (OPSEC).
5. Don’t share personally identifiable information (PII) that can be used to impersonate you or steal your identity.
6. Don’t click on links that go to unfamiliar sites.
7. Choose applications wisely. Many applications share information with marketers and others.
8. Use anti-virus and anti-spyware at home.
9. Use a different, strong password for each online account.
10. Don’t share any passwords with third-party sites.
11. Carefully consider sharing your location, because it indicates when you’re not at home and vulnerable.
12. Don’t share Navy information that hasn’t been officially released. Err on the side of caution.
13. Review training resources on OPSEC, safety and official guidance.

Numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven are all guidelines that focus on Facebook and membership to other social/interactive communities. I think these are very important guidelines.

Number eight, nine, and ten are Computer 101 guidelines - if any sailor is too stupid to understand these things, then they will be too stupid to work in the private sector when they fail out of the Navy. These guidelines are now taught to elementary school children in the United States - indeed passwords and password privacy was the first library lesson for my kindergarten daughter. I thought is was interesting - understanding it reflects the 21st century she is being educated to compete in. These guidelines belong in every corporate policy regarding computer use on the planet.

Numbers eleven and thirteen are Navy specific organizational policies. I think number eleven is too broad and could use some work on the margins, but generally a good policy. Number thirteen on the other hand is important, and while it is specific to the US Navy in this case - is also a guideline one would find in unique form for every competitive corporation with trade secrets in America.

Then we have the Twelfth Commandment, which I hate as worded, and reads like:

Dear Sailor,

Are you a PAO? If not, STFU.

V/r,

The Admiralty

That may not be what the intent of the twelfth commandment is, and it is fair criticism of me to suggest I am taking it to a bit of an extreme - but that is what #12 reads as to me. I think #12 could use some work, because I think the twelfth commandment is confusing, at minimum. I see the twelfth commandment as a tactical liability in the information space the US Navy is competing in today. The twelfth commandment doesn't imply allowance for leaders at the mid officer level in the US Navy to be flexible in the information space in order to achieve successful strategic communication to intended audiences - and based on my read of Rhumb Lines that is part of the Navy's overall strategy for social media.

The problem with the twelfth commandment is that it doesn't reflect the way information moves today in social media. It doesn't reflect what makes information interesting in social media specifically because it robs the Navy of the important narrative component that adds value to information shared by social media. I think it might just be the way it is phrased, but the bottom line is the way it is phrased - frankly, sucks.

As I read the twelfth commandment, the purpose of this guideline appears to be central control of information, which I find strange because it does not seem to align with the intent of the social media guidelines as outlined in the key messages. In 1990 central control of information was important and the twelfth commandment made sense, but in 2010 central control of information is a liability. The twelfth commandment reflects a hierarchical information structure where the limitations are exposed and exploited when competing for mind share in a flat world.

Rhumb Lines suggests the intent behind social media use by Navy personnel in the Key Messages section listed at the bottom.

Key Messages

1. Navy personnel are encouraged to responsibly engage in unofficial Internet posting about the Navy and Navy-related topics.
2. Navy personnel are frequently in a position to share the Navy’s successes with a global audience via the Internet.
3. There are risks to communicating online, but those risks can be mitigated by using privacy settings and thinking before posting.

If that is what CHINFO desires from social media use by US Navy personnel - I love it. It is brilliant, concise, and clear. But does anyone else see why I think there is some confusion regarding the 12th guideline above and the Key Messages that RDML Dennis Moynihan wanted expressed in Thursday's Rhumb Lines? I really loved everything about the safe and responsible personal use of social media document on Thursday - except that number 12 which sticks out as either poorly phrased or perhaps simply misguided.

The twelfth commandment makes all of this very confusing, but I want to shake out using an example how I think the guidelines are supposed to work - and maybe one of you crafty officers who read here can shoot RDML Moynihan a suggestion for how to reword #12.

Did you read Captain Alexander Martin's personal account of the Force Recon take down on the MV Magellan Star? You should have, I spoke with Mary Ripley over at USNI and they had well over 100,000 readers check out that post over the last week. I have less access to web traffic over at Battle Rattle, but their poopy pants angle of the story gave them the most incoming link traffic that blog has seen to date. That particular incident, specifically the USNI blog post, represents an excellent example of aligning internet social media use with both the intent contained in the Rhumb Lines 'key messages' and content that followed the guidelines.

Capt. Alexander Martin reviewed the social media guidelines of the Marine Corps before posting, then wrote the post - but he never asked for permission from anyone before posting. The US Naval Institute now has an official letter signed and sealed that says the US Marine Corps officially endorses that account by Capt. Alexander Martin, but when he wrote it there was some risk involved - particularly given the tentative way the US Marines have been officially regarding social media.

I would guess, if Capt. Martin were a sailor and not a Marine, that his interpretation of CHINFO's twelfth commandment would be that the information regarding the rescue had already been officially released, thus he was following the key messages portion of the social media guidelines by sharing his success with a global audience. Is that the right way to read the twelfth commandment? I don't know, because you are supposed to err on the side of caution...

The Navy needs to be very clear with their guidelines, because I have to tell you - there are 4,380 results in Google one week later when I did a search for "Captain Alexander Martin" and nobody on the internet besides us few here at ID had ever heard of the guy before last week. The event itself was interesting, but it was the narrative that turned it from a news event into a viral information engagement on behalf of the Marines with a massive engaged audience. The Marines official statement of the incident was informative, but Captain Martin's statement was engaging. The difference is not trivial.

The Navy faces a strategic communication challenge in the competition over narratives at home - for example - the value of a program like the Littoral Combat Ship, or the value of the Navy's Maritime Strategy to our nations economy and security. The CNO is fighting that narrative battle alone in his stump speeches, but he shouldn't have to. I don't know if it is the role of a PAO to engage the narrative space - some say it is and others argue it is not. Right now the Navy's formal information structure is built for event reporting only, and without a narrative capable of consistently countering challenges to official positions - the Navy will always find itself fighting a relentless assault of alternative ideas in the information space. I don't think that is a responsible or healthy way for the Navy to engage the information space with their support element, the American citizenry, in the 21st century.

And if the Navy can't engage the relentless assault of friendly competitors for mind share in the idea space at home, how will the Navy ever be capable of doing it effectively when necessary for engagement with populations in other countries? That last part matters a lot - the Army and Marines have learned that the hard way in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last several years, and the global littorals have a hell of a lot more people than those two countries.

Other than the confusing nature of the twelfth commandment, I really like the US Navy's social media guidelines and objectives as outlined in Thursday's Rhumb Lines. If Captain Martin's USNI post is an example of the right way to share stories within the context of these guidelines, then the Navy has good times ahead - assuming sailors actually tell their tales in a timely manner and have avenues available for sharing their experiences. There is a lot of untapped goodwill in social media the Navy can take advantage of - hell every time Bob Work or some Admiral shows up in this blogs comments I see the impact on the larger community here - highlighting how engagement matters.

----

Any sailor who does write about an experience reported in the news but doesn't have an avenue to share their story can send it to me, and I'll post it on the US Naval Institute blog under their name. Seems to me that is the logical place for these type of things to be recorded for purposes of naval history. And as always, guest authors are always welcome on ID - but no anonymous guest authors allowed (only regular authors have the right to be anonymous here).

Excellent Blogging

Captain Martin's blog post over at the USNI blog discussing the activities of the pirated ship take down yesterday is fascinating. I read it understanding it is a single instrument in the blue/green symphony involved in the action.

Wouldn't it be great to read Captain Bolt's observations in a similar way? I would, but I also understand he probably won't have time to contribute such observations until after the deployment. Just saying - it would be the kind of content to make that blog more interesting.

One final thought. Where does activity this fit into the discussion regarding the future of the Marine Corps? Forced entry boarding operations are a historical role of the US Marines, and yet not an activity of the US Marines discussed. I find it interesting how often the 21st century looks like the 19th century - both strategically and tactically.

Frustrating

My thoughts on the Virginia piracy ruling is up on the USNI Blog.

I think Congress, and even the President to some degree, can legitimately be criticized for the legal mess we find ourselves in regarding these piracy cases. These incidents happened well after the MV Maersk Alabama incident - so no one on Capitol Hill has any excuses for not taking action to shore up the laws relating to piracy in preparation for these types of cases.

InfoWar Observations

What does it say that the MV Rachel Corrie already has a Wikipedia page? It tells me the planning for the next flotilla clash off the Israeli coast is already being prepared.

A few additional observations regarding the unfolding information war unfolding in the Med over at the USNI Blog.

Thoughts of the Day

Had a hour long roundtable discussion with Bob Work on Wednesday as part of the press greeting, a lot of interesting things came out including a look ahead on Flight III and Flight IV of the DDG-51s. If you reporters in DC can do the rest of us a favor, apply all the pressure possible on folks for a copy of the AMDR report - us peon readers would appreciate it a great deal (this report is supposedly outstanding).

Basically, the radar will be a 14' aperture array SPY-3 system. Bob discussed the budget quite a bit, and in my very brief glance I think one thing is clear - the Navy did great in this years budget. A recognition of the advantages of naval power is evident in the Obama administration, even during very difficult economic times.

Work outlined a possible vision ahead for the JHSV. Flight I would be civmar crewed, with a Flight II version potentially being milcrewed for Riverine and SEALs. As he explained it, the thought that popped into my head was "Department of Everything Else" but I didn't write down why this thought came to me - and forgot exactly what he said that had this thought jump in my head.

For Bob Work, $15B shipbuilding budget is the invisible line on shipbuilding. Above $15B the Navy should be global in construct, below $15B it should be regional in construct. In other words, it is either/or for him despite recognition that regional fleets are less expensive. It makes sense, although I think you can do both and having a handful of regional fleet task forces (4 is the number I believe works) is useful to enhancing the value of the global fleet structure. While it is more complex, a regional fleet would be smaller vessels that are forward based while a global fleet is a larger vessel fleet that deploys too and from CONUS in this context.

Work said the Navy "is going to compete everything" and performance matters. Performance matters was something he said repeatedly.

The LCS program will be 4 crews for 3 ships, a slight change, and the Navy wants to use the ships very hard early to test a lot of ideas. They expect the ships to be in use 50% of the time to increase the opportunity to develop concepts, technologies, and learn lessons. He made it clear the LCS program is going to be one of build some, use them for testing, and evolve from lessons learned. I note the decade beginning 2010 is a great period to do exactly that, because there are lots of technologies to test, develop, and integrate. The Navy is seeking advice and guidance from the civmar community on how to use the LCS at sea for greater periods of time - a detail I thought was very interesting.

Bandwidth is the bane of everything Bob Work said, and he said the word bandwidth zero times. I am still skeptical whether his battle force "network" is going to have enough bandwidth at current investment rates to meet the vision in his mind, or every vision explained by Navy leaders here that begins with the "networked technology solution." Bandwidth is a word used heavily in West 2010, but only by very informed folks as the crippling factor in all these big ideas of their superiors. Obviously this is a known problem discussed privately at the deck plate and assumed a bit too much for my taste at the leadership level - at least in public.

FY16 begins Flight III Burkes. Will R&D be funded heavily to support all the mods? He said yes but wow this is going to be a huge topic. Flight III will include a few mods, but the big one being the radar. There is expectations that a Flight IV would follow later with technologies from DDG-1000.

The new Burkes over the 5-year plan will include generators and cooling, so there are some mods to the Flight IIAs which raises the question if they are really Flight IIBs?

More in detail later.

I have a summary of Day 2 at West at USNI Blog, and Midrats last night was very good. Bill Miller at USNI broke some news - members will in the near future be able to access every Proceedings article written over the last 135 years online in the current online format, and he had quite a few other interesting things to say. The whole episode is good, including the interview with Phil Ewing of Navy Times and the last 15 minutes on piracy following the panel discussion at West 2010 today. I think Midrats is an hour worth your time, and I appreciate all feedback.

Great Day at West 2010

OK, so I got the hash tag wrong for Twitter, it is actually #west10 instead of #west2010 (which I used all day). Oh well, something to improve for tomorrow. Was today a good day? Uhm, very much yes.

I knew things were going good when I was too busy to catch Ronald O'Rourke after his panel. Being easily distracted, I spotted CDR Kris Doyle - Blue crew CO of USS Freedom (LCS 1) who is out here in San Diego getting ready her the sea swap during the upcoming deployment. You can point to a lot of people within the LCS program and say 'that person matters' to the success of the program. I have told her both times I have met her - she will have the most influence on the program. Many reasons why...

When she goes back to sea this year with her crew, there will be only 4 officers of blue crew who are the same. She was XO, now CO - the CHENG is still on the ship, 1 Lieutenant who has gone from jg to full LT and another who was not really blue crew at the time but was on the ship when I rode her through the Welland Canal back in November of 08. 40% of the USS Freedom (LCS 1) crew has also turned over (with many chiefs moving on). Several are now in LCSRON, some have retired, and some have gone back to other places in the fleet.

Recognizing the challenge, CDR Doyle is such a breath of fresh air on LCS. Nothing personal against all the folks who love to use the comments as a launchpad to trash the program for every little detail, but she does have one point that is exactly right - you have to be on the ship to get it. Listening to old sea dogs comment about how "in my day yada yada..." really is a pointless discussion. The challenges on LCS are not new, but they are different, and how you did something isn't how they do something. I have consistently highlighted that it is the human aspect that makes LCS work, even as the small number of human beings is a criticism. Getting the people issues right - training, doctrine, and distributing skill sets - is the challenge for LCS because the technologies will take care of themselves as the designs mature.

The Littoral Combat Ship is a technology discussion that misrepresents the picture, because the picture is human, not technology. The focus of technology conceals the value of the program, and no one can understand that without seeing it themselves. As I'm talking to CDR Doyle, VADM Cosgriff comes over and joins the conversation, and somehow he realizes that I've spent a few days on Freedom. He mentions how he has not been on the LCS yet, and it raises a question in my mind.

Does VADM Cosgriff truly understand the LCS, or does he just get the concept?

Mind you, the very last time I saw CDR Doyle before today, she was sweeping a hall on USS Freedom (LCS 1) preparing for the arrival of SECNAV Winter at the time, and the only other person working that space was a LT. I have no idea how many years VADM Cosgriff served in the Navy before he retired, but I bet a 12 pack of cold brew in all those years he was in the Navy - he never saw a CDR and LT doing the floors in one of the busiest spaces on a ship. By the way, I had Chris Cavas take pictures of CDR Doyle and the LT doing all the cleaning, because it is something you simply don't see - ever. Until you understand how that is a good picture of what LCS is, I am not sure you really understand LCS. If you think I am talking about the work, you're wrong. I'm talking about what works...

She described how she has changed her view on speed with the LCS. This is interesting to me, because she was privately unsure of the added value of speed when I spoke to her back in November of 2008. In exercises last year she told a few stories how speed, while not utilized often but an option when necessary allows her to have her ship in position to influence the environment. I won't detail the stories, those are hers to tell, but because I have been on the ship flying 42+ knots and had previous experience seeing the ship use the wake to force another ship nearby to maneuver - I do think her take is valuable to the discussion. Just as everyone - me included - is losing faith in the LCS, when you run into someone like CDR Doyle and she shares her experiences I admit my cup is half full again. The irony is how this little (and I mean tiny) woman is one of the most unassuming women in uniform you will ever meet, but the reality is she is flat out awesome and intelligent - such a breath of fresh air.

After that conversation, I wasn't sure my day was going to get any better. ADM Stavridis had a lot to say, and I looked around my table of bloggers when he told the crowd of 1000 they need to be reading the Small Wars Journal. He was very good, but I'll let either Bryan McGrath or the USNI Blog detail out his comments for now. I have several thoughts, but not right now.

No, the real treat was the night party on USS Midway. OK, so it is a ton of fun to walk across the flight deck discussing the various aircraft with CDR Salamander, UltimaRatioReg, and FBL of Soldiers Angels... but it was a really great time talking network security, cyber, and many other topics walking the deck with Norman Friedman. I don't know if he knew who we were, and other than introducing myself it never came up...but lets be honest.

The reason many of us blogging folks can do what we do is because Norman Friedman opened those doors with his books and analysis. It was intellectual bliss with ideas and opinions on dozens of topics with the backdrop of walking up and down the deck of the USS Midway on a perfect San Diego evening. I believe I speak for all of us when I say it will go down as one of the most memorable experiences from this trip.

Plenty more to discuss, but the bulk of analysis from the events of West 2010 will happen over at the US Naval Institute Blog. Additionally, I am running a live Tweet during the hearings (follow my comments here) - and tomorrows Panel with ID's own Bryan McGrath and Undersecretary of the Navy Bob Work will be more than a little interesting. All I know for sure is you absolutely want to read CDR Salamanders post on the USNI Blog, because I heard it exactly as he did...twice! and several of us stopped and looked at each other in disbelief.

The amount of discussion about cyber is likely to increase a lot over the next few weeks (time to start learning if you haven't been keeping up). URR begins that discussion from Tuesdays presentations at West 2010. As for me, when I get a chance I'll be discussing the future of MAD and how BMD is linked as outlined by several comments throughout the day.

AFCEA/USNI West 2010

I will be at AFCEA/USNI West 2010 this week, so most of my posting will be over at the USNI Blog. I will likely be on Twitter quite a bit more than usual this week trying to capture the quotes from the various speakers. My Twitter feed is here.

If you are looking for photos, I'll be taking more than a few and posing them on my Facebook page, or the USNI Facebook page as applicable.

For those of you who are here, shoot me off an email and I'd love to meet you.