The first week of January was my first visit to Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, home of the Air University, where I attended a meeting of war college presidents from all the services. The interesting thing was how differently each of the services approaches officer development, as well as education.
As with all trips and meetings of this nature, there is always something to learn -- the main thing I learned was that there are some very dedicated professionals trying to ensure our military institutions of higher learning are turning out highly educated, critical thinkers. And, we're all trying to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars in a tough fiscal environment.
What we're teaching in Newport is not rocket science. No, it's actually harder than rocket science. War is the most complex of human undertakings, part science and technology but also a good deal of art. It is a lesson that we seem to re-learn and re-learn. War is not formulaic. It cannot be reduced to an algorithm or template.
Clausewitz called it "more than a true chameleon" (1: On War, Book one, Chapter one, P89, Michael Howard and Peter Paret, ed., Princeton University Press, 1984). Fighting a war requires understanding of very complex situations, and it takes education. Churchill wrote of the Royal Navy during the period 1911-1915 "at the outset of the conflict we had more captains of ships than captains of war" (2: Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, 1931, Free Press, NY, NY. p 93.). Stephen Luce, the first Naval War College president, in the early days, didn't even think war could be "taught," saying simply that we all learn the unchanging principles together at the war college. He signed up and took the course, even as president.
Education of our future leaders is a long term issue with very little immediate return on investment that you can touch, see, or feel - at least in the short term, and this becomes a factor in tough economic times. And yet during our nation's toughest economic times for example, between World War I and World War II, the great depression, some of our best naval thinking occurred, some outlined in books like "Military Innovation in the Interwar Period" (Williamson Murray, Alan Millett, eds. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), "Plan Orange" (Edward Miller, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1991) or "Agents of Innovation" (John Kuehn, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2008). I guess I would consider the war colleges like Warren Buffet-style investing - instead of investing based simply on the latest quarterly earnings report.
As an example, one of our senior army commanders, a Naval War College graduate in the 1990s, told me it took him ten years to realize the importance of the education he received in Newport. Did the Army know then he would become a four-star wartime commander? Developing a good commander and strategic thinker represents not only a lifetime of work, but represents a good deal of personal effort, both in terms of experience as well as education.
If you read my President's Forum in the
autumn 2009 edition of the Naval War College Review (p 10.) the people responsible for executive education of a well known Fortune 500 company told me they had never been asked to justify the return on investment for educating their future leaders; it was simply understood. And yet, it is fairly clear that the institutions responsible for this function will be subjected to tighter and tighter budgets along with our services. Our nation's universities generally have been subjected to significant cuts over the past two years.
Frankly, the Naval War College has actually been spared by comparison, but it's clear this may change as the overall DoD and Navy Budgets are reduced. Which tells me that the need for help from the Naval War College Foundation will become greater not less, and it will fall to me to help articulate our needs to the Navy, then to make sure the NWC Foundation members are kept informed as we navigate these difficult waters ahead.
The irony, however, is that despite some recent criticisms behind pundits of the war colleges generally as institutions, from where I sit, THE NEED FOR THIS SCHOOL HAS NEVER BEEN GREATER.
One of the major reasons I am convinced of this is an increasingly rapid pace of change -- both technologically and internationally, a concern voiced by Admiral Mike Mullen Friday, January 8, 2010, right here in Newport (
http://www.jcs.mil/speech.aspx?id=13124). Add to this the thorny and ambiguous nature of problems we are facing as a Navy and a nation -- a concern which requires not only tough critical thinking, but the ability to frame and describe complex situations in a logical and well thought out language. This actually goes to the very heart of education.
The question then becomes, are we at the Naval War College adaptable enough?
I think the answer is yes.
A few days ago, I sat in with some of our faculty members as they reviewed how to prepare themselves to teach and talk about the current conflict, and as I sat and listened to this mix of serving officers and distinguished civilian academics discuss and vigorously debate the nature of the war we're in and struggle to come to grips with its complexity -- many serving officers here know from being on the ground -- and even the friction of our own internal bureaucratic processes.
It was a super discussion against the backdrop of history, with the years of faculty experience, their in-depth knowledge of case studies -- I was reminded that thirty years ago we didn't think we could discuss Vietnam in the classroom, it was that sensitive. And yet, here we were having just such a discussion -- and knowing this business is not over yet, the outcomes not pre-determined.
In fact, one of our major functions in Newport is to help the Navy leadership anticipate what's next. That is in fact a question many here in Newport are attacking right now. What should happen after Iraq and Afghanistan?
What indeed.
The agony of Haiti speaks volumes here -- it really is the Navy as a force for good. But what other factors are going to be in play as we move forward? Energy? (which the Secretary of the Navy is making a priority), the environment (including the Arctic), natural disasters? global economics? food security? pandemic?
Before the holidays, we were fortunate enough to host a pretty interesting group of leading scientific experts, editor of
www.theoildrum.com, historians, a fiction writer, and members of our own faculty, all together, and we had just such a discussion about the future. In fact, this is something the Naval War College is absolutely chartered to do -- look out ahead and help figure out what might be asked of our Navy in the future. To help the Navy Leadership get a sense of things on or even over the horizon, and as a result, to determine what this Navy should look like, and how it can best help the nation -- and we've been doing this in Newport, and gaming futures, for over a hundred years.
Posted:
1/20/2010 4:37:27 PM by
RADM James P. Wisecup | with
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I took a few minutes recently to answer some questions from the Public Affairs Office and would like to share this with President's Journal readers.
Q. Admiral, you've been at the Naval War College now for just over a year. Could you tell us your view of the state of the College?
A. What I've found after a year is that we're a professional graduate institution. That may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious on its face, but I choose my words carefully. This is education: transferring bodies of knowledge to students, instilling habits of learning and critical thinking. Habits of reading, for example. Providing the intellectual tools which can be applied across a variety of ambiguous, ill-defined problems. That's education. Look at our commanders -- all NWC graduates: Vice Adm. William Gortney (Commander, Fifth Fleet), Gen. Stan McChrystal, Gen. Ray Odierno, Adm. Jim Stavridis, Gen. Pete Chiarelli (Vice Chief of the Army). So our mission laid down by the first President – Rear Adm. Stephen B. Luce -- and articulated succinctly, was this: the mission is to educate the next generation of naval officers, and also to conduct original research on war, the prevention of war, and the statesmanship surrounding war. It's a pretty clear mission, laid out in 1903 in a talk he gave and published in the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. We conducted two faculty off-sites, which were really helpful to me as I learned about the traditions of this 125-year-old institution, trying to come to grips with how to succinctly express our mission. In the end, it was not the Harvard Business Review but Rear Adm. Luce who showed us a clear and concise way to express the mission. As for the state of the College, I would use the Federal Reserve characterization: the fundamentals are solid. Like each institution of higher learning, there are going to be budget challenges coming, and any effort to think together about institutional spending and priorities will go a long way toward making the tough choices a little bit easier.
Q. The International Sea Power Symposium (ISS) in October was a success and a lot of work went into that. What impact does that event have on the international community?
A. The ISS is the Maritime Strategy in operation -- the building of partnerships for common goals, and the constant expansion of areas where we can create common interests. It’s simply a gathering of senior naval professionals. There are no charter, no secretariat, and no rules, just professionals gathering for the past 40 YEARS to discuss topics of mutual interest and to develop relationships. All that said, it was a widely attended gathering with over 90 chiefs of navies world-wide -- that's almost all of them. We're not naïve enough to think that simply having a meeting gets things done, but this week in Newport every two years certainly does provide a forum which permits navies to get together, and seek common ground on issues they think are important. These Service Chiefs can, however, have influence on their own governments just like the U.S. Navy flags can have influence in the U.S., as well as influence countries in their own region, too. Numerous flag officers told me they could visit with Service Chiefs from many nations in a short time, so it was wonderful use of their time, without having to fly thousands of miles at great expense. I know a lot of business got done in the "wings."
Q. Recently, you launched an online forum, called NWC Online Discussion. What's the purpose behind it?
A. The purpose of this moderated, online forum is to provide a means for service members, defense policy analysts and anyone interested in national security to discuss important defense topics in an open, public dialogue. Major themes for discussion include: Strategy, Sea Power and Naval Policy; The Future of Warfare; International Cooperation; Service Roles and Missions; and Naval Operational Art.
This forum is intended to serve as a venue for debate among a diverse group of professionals who are encouraged to present and defend their opinions. It is hoped that this kind of free and open consideration of important national security issues will lead to a stronger defense community that is more responsive to the needs and concerns of our service members, our taxpayers and the nation.
This discussion is for the purpose of generating a serious, courteous, academic exchange of ideas and facilitating critical thinking. The U.S. Naval War College or the U.S. Navy does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify, or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted on the Website.
Q. The College just started a proactive alumni affairs program and established a writing center. Could you tell us a little about those programs?
A. For starters, the alumni affairs program isn't about fundraising; it's about fostering and encouraging the network of NWC alumni, which is actually pretty vast. This is about staying connected. So it's very different from the NWC Foundation, which does raise the funds and is designed to give the Naval War College the competitive edge during events throughout the year. We were recently in Bahrain for a flag-level course, and learned that not only was the Commander, Fifth Fleet a Naval War College Graduate, but so were his deputy and senior staff, and over one hundred officers. This is a powerful network by anyone's standards.
The writing center is a resource for all students, whether they need or want to polish their writing or persuasive skills. Students who write quite well also stop by because they want to be better.
The ability to write and write well, as well as to digest information quickly and summarize large quantities of information for senior leaders is a valuable skill for future staff officers or leaders.
Q. The annual NWC counterpart to the Army-Navy football game took place on Dec. 1, and Navy won 34-6. Who are you rooting for Saturday?
A. If I said anything but NAVY, would you even believe me?? That said, it's always a great game.
Q. With the holiday season approaching, what is your holiday message for the Naval War College family and base community?
A. That Anne and I wish everyone a great holiday season, that we were pleased to host the Navy Northeast Band Concert, especially for the kids, and that everyone travel safely and enjoy being with loved ones.
Q. Admiral, do you have any final words for this Q&A session?
A. I'd just like to say thank you to the distinguished faculty and staff for making our first year here at the Naval War College so richly rewarding. There is a good faculty handbook in place, for example, and the Command Climate Survey brought out some workplace issues, which were dealt with earlier in the year. We now have Dr. John Garafano in place as our new Academic Dean. We haven't had to make major changes as CJCS accreditations for our senior course and our resident and non-resident intermediate-level programs demonstrated we're on track, or take a lot of drastic measures to assure resources are in place to help everyone get their jobs done in this first year -- and in this respect I'd say we are unique. Other universities all across the country are actively reducing faculty, cutting back curriculum, services, and you name it. Everyone is paddling hard, but I can honestly tell you I hear white water around the bend.
The good news is we have tremendous support from senior Navy leadership, who recognize things are getting more complex, not less, and that the Naval War College education is valued. The fact remains, however, we're simply entering a period of tight budgets, so it is in our best interest to make sure we're keeping our eyes on the mission -- as Rear Adm. Luce so clearly stated in 1903 -- education and original research, but we are also being asked to directly help the fleet, and we won't fail. No one needs to pipe in salt water here -- the history of this place is that we help the Navy leadership as well as the fleet. There are also many special projects bringing our facilities up to date, which is encouraging but there is much left to do.
We try to run the Naval War College like the professional graduate institution it is, and to attract and retain the highest quality faculty we can. Dr Williamson Murray gave testimony earlier in the year to the House Armed Services Committee which lays things out very clearly in my view. (available at
http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/OI091009/Murray-Statement.pdf)
We enjoy being part of the community here in Rhode Island. We're working with faculty and students at the University of Rhode Island as part of a desire to improve our energy consumption here at the Naval War College. We've joined the Rhode Island Campus Compact, to encourage service to our communities, but that's already a strength at the War College -- on both the civilian and military sides of our school. It's just to give an example of the types of things going on here. Check us out on the web (
www.usnwc.edu) and have a wonderful and safe holiday.
Posted:
12/11/2009 4:38:41 PM by
RADM James P. Wisecup | with
2 comments
I’m again at 30,000 feet, returning from Bahrain, from the coalition force maritime component commander’s (CFMCC) course hosted by the fifth fleet commander and put on by the Naval War College for naval leaders in the region; I am once again reminded of the importance of this part of the world. It is specifically emphasized in our “
Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower.”
A generation of US naval officers has spent years deploying to this area. One of the faculty showed me a quote from Saul Bernard Cohen ; “there are, strictly speaking, two geostrategic regions today: the trade-dependent maritime world, and the Eurasian continental world. Projecting our view into the future, we anticipate the eventual emergence of a third geostrategic region – the Indian Ocean.” (Geography and Politics in a World Divided, Random House, 1963).
Just look at a map. The Indian Ocean is the unifying feature of the region. Look at its historically important maritime trade routes which connect major regions of the world – routes that carry, among other things, over 70 percent of the globe’s oil to East Asia, Europe and the Americas. Despite the fact the US is currently engaged in two wars in the region, it is the need for trade to flow unimpeded on the seas, as well as the growing importance of its fish stocks as a source for food, which puts the Indian Ocean squarely in the US Navy’s site picture for the foreseeable future. In his book “Age of Turbulence”, (Penguin Press, 2007) former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made the point that the American people do not understand the fragility of the oil distribution network throughout the world. But it’s not only about the oil, it’s also about food distribution, and the global economy – which mostly moves by container, and over 90 percent of which passes by sea. Robert Kaplan recently wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, which I commend to your reading, in which he highlighted the coming importance of the Indian Ocean. (Center Stage for the 21st Century – Power plays in the Indian Ocean March/April 2009).
It’s hard to find a US naval officer who hasn’t deployed to that area. Again, Robert Kaplan, writing in his book, “Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts” (Vintage Books, Sept.2008) spent time with US Naval Officers on ships deployed to the region, and I return to his work simply because it is one of only a few accounts of life at sea as today’s serving officers know it. As I return from Bahrain, the place I reported to my first ship, a frigate, as a young Ensign in 1978, I’m reminded how interesting this region is, but also how susceptible to conflict and crisis. During our very next deployment, which we made in 1979, we were in Bahrain when the US Embassy in Tehran was taken over and our people taken hostage – now thirty years ago almost to the day. When I visited Oman in 2007, and asked a question about trade with China, our hosts pointed out that they had traded with China for centuries, in a route along the Mahkran coast off Pakistan which connects Pakistan and India with the Gulf. It is a wonderful and very historic area. Trade also flows from the Gulf around the Arabian Peninsula, through the Gulf of Aden and the Bab-el-Mandeb up through the Red Sea, or down the coast of Africa around the Cape of Good Hope.
The Gulf of Aden has recently become better known due to the recent media flurry of reporting on piracy – even though it only touches a very small fraction of trade moving through that area (less than one tenth of one percent if memory serves) though it is a reflection of the instability in the horn of Africa. Eighteen months ago, most people couldn’t find the Gulf of Aden on a map.
My point is that the Indian Ocean is increasingly important in the strategic calculus of a variety of powers, including the US. It is also the nexus of trade routes connecting the global economy, and it washes the shores of nations, both prosperous and poor, as well as failed states. 57 percent of the world’s muslims live in this region, and there are currently two nuclear capable nations, Pakistan and India.
So what would be more normal at the Naval War College in Newport than to establish a regional chair for the study of the Indian Ocean.
In fact the thing I find interesting about this particular idea is that it is actually unusual. Most regional studies are done by geographic land regions, by continent or nation, or ethnic group – I am surely oversimplifying, but the point is even the Department of Defense divides the Indian Ocean between US Central Command and US Pacific command (going right down a line about 120 nautical miles west of India, north and south). So this academic chair would have the unique distinction of looking at the region as a whole, which is, in fact how naval officers have always seen it on our charts – and we hope to establish this chair in the near future.
There were many naval flag officers from this region in attendance during our conference/seminar this past week in Bahrain, and there were serious and lively discussions, a visit by senior US and international flag and general officers, and regional naval leaders. We also got to know each other. Admiral Roughead is fond of saying “you can’t surge trust”, meaning that personal relationships among naval leaders are important, especially true in times of tension. Admiral Arleigh Burke said the same thing when he established the Naval War College’s international program, which has educated thousands of international officers from over 50 countries since 1956. Twenty currently serving Chiefs of Navies are Newport graduates.
Finally, in early October, over 100 navies and coast guards were represented (most by their chiefs -- as well as much of the US navy senior leadership) at the International Sea Power Symposium, hosted by Admiral Roughead at the Naval War College. This is what he means when he says “Newport is where the US Navy connects with the world.”
Posted:
11/13/2009 9:31:57 AM by
Carla McCarthy | with
0 comments
I realize it has been almost two months since I last made an entry, and the clock is ticking, I’m a month away from a year at the Naval War College. Time has that interesting quality of sliding by, as water does under the keel of a ship. You look up and another month has passed.
Without going into the details of daily life, I find myself at 30,000 feet again, this time headed home to Newport after a visit to New York City with the international students and to West Point.
This week is the International Sea Power Symposium (ISS) -- which, after a 40-year run is arguably the largest gathering of senior navy and coast guard leaders on the planet. I will have to check with our naval historians to see how it compares to the naval conferences of the inter-war years in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the idea of Admiral Arleigh Burke, and its goal is to assemble the best naval talent and discuss common problems.
As CNO likes to say, Newport is where the Navy connects to the world, and in the case of the ISS, no truer words were ever spoken. The conference occurs every other year, and this year almost a hundred chiefs of navies and coast guards are expected to attend. The conference is essentially a forum where the chiefs can make good use of their valuable time, connecting with an enormous number of their counterparts quickly, and in one place—in this case the newly re-opened Spruance Hall, which just underwent a 7.2 million dollar renovation over the past year.
With much of the senior US Navy and Coast Guard leadership in attendance, the variety of issues which can be dealt with in a relaxed setting and discussed among senior professionals makes ISS the ideal venue for the sea services of the world to work out issues and lay groundwork for the future, not only with their US counterparts, but also among themselves, without the amount of expense and travel it would take to visit each other individually.
This year’s theme is maritime cooperation/maritime partnerships. There will be keynote speakers, but also panels, mostly led by international officers this year. The theme points to “maritime domain awareness” which deals with the cooperation needed among all the navies and coast guards, and also eventually to build a “complete picture” of maritime activity world-wide.
Anyway, coming close on the heels of a conference on “Arctic Security Conference: Policy and Law in an Age of Climate Change” and Irregular War Conference, it has been a busy two months since convocation and the students and faculty are well underway with the 125th anniversary academic year.
A significant event in progress now is the upcoming roll out of the new website, which has been designed with students and faculty in mind – and will give faculty ease of internet access to describe their work. As a .edu domain, NWC also now benefits from the OSEAN network of universities here in RI which gives us great bandwidth on the internet. Related to this is the establishment of wireless access on campus, and an EBOOK pilot project for selected students which should report out at the end of the trimester in November. Initial reports are positive.
Finally, partnering with the University of Rhode Island (URI) Department of Environmental Sciences and Business School, three URI students and our facilities folks at NWC and on the naval station conducted an Energy audit of NWC over the summer. Here is the link to the study and the news articles which discussed their findings, many of which we can act on to reduce our energy footprint. Read the story here. There is much we can all do to reduce energy consumption generally, and many of their recommendations would be suitable for application in your own home as well as for us here at the college.
Amory Lovins, director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and frequent visitor to the Naval War College, came to speak at the first of the Spruance evening lecture series, and discussed issues directly related to energy future technology, and energy consumption. Fascinating. www.rmi.org
The next evening lecture will be Mr. Andrew Serwer, Managing Editor, Fortune Magazine, who will come speak on October 13. More soon after ISS.
Posted:
10/5/2009 11:28:00 AM by
Anthony Chau | with
0 comments
As the U.S. Naval War College enters its 125th year, and brings in another new class of students, I'd like to reflect on things a moment.
This is the 8th year of war for the United States. Many of our students are coming directly from Iraq and Afghanistan. This is one of the unique things about the Naval War College; our student body consists of almost six hundred mid-career professionals from all services and many government agencies. They make a significant contribution in our Oxford-style small seminar format we've used here since the early 1970s, implemented by Admiral Stansfield Turner. The program leads to a Master of Arts Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. We have a distinguished faculty. So though we're a federal government entity, we are first and foremost a professional graduate institution, the oldest one of its kind in the world, founded in 1884, designed to educate the next generation of leaders. We have a significant research arm here, as well as the oldest war-gaming center in the United States.
We have also enrolled over a thousand students for our distance learning program, which began in 1916 as "correspondence courses" and developed into fleet seminars, with faculty in 19 cities in the United States. Many of the students are serving in fleet jobs or in other agencies of government in places like Washington, D.C., Pearl Harbor, or San Diego for example. Fleet seminar students are able to receive the same degree as students studying in Newport.
There is also about 20 percent of our student body which comes from all over the world. Officers are sent from almost 50 countries, and many have only recently arrived. Currently twenty serving heads of navies and four chiefs of defense are graduates of the U.S. Naval War College.
This place is about the future. It's about looking ahead, developing ideas for what the Navy and our military should be doing in response to threats or problems we don't even know exist yet. It's about developing our people, producing leaders with a broad education, habits of thought, and the ability to critically analyze ambiguous problems and recommend what should be done. It's about listening to our friends, who often have great ideas about how to solve problems we might not think of. We're in the age of tsunami relief, Avian Flu, global warming, economic problems, and yet engaged in conflict in the far corners of the world. In today's global economy, the Navy is a major guarantor of U.S. vital interests. As the Chief of Naval Operations says, "Newport is where the Navy connects with the world". It's sure true, and the school has a very interesting history.
If you're interested in seeing what your U.S. Naval War College is doing today, visit us on the web at www.usnwc.edu. This is quite a place. Hope to see you soon.
James P. Wisecup
Rear Admiral, USN
President, Naval War College - The Navy's "Home of Thought"
Newport, Rhode Island
Phone number: 401-841-2266
Posted:
8/11/2009 1:28:00 PM by
Adam Griffis | with
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