Achieving Information Dominance - Priorities & Objectives for the 21st Century

End State
The complex threat we face and the operations we conduct both today and in the future require all Navy professionals to skillfully contribute to, access, and utilize intelligence. For the near future, we will continue to work to prevent the next terrorist surprise and support combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the Navy establishes a global network of Maritime Headquarters with/Maritime Operation Centers (MHQ w/MOC) the demand for the timely, relevant, and predictive intelligence, which is critical to its success, will increase. While our future challenges are complex and tied to an ever-changing strategic environment, the solutions lie in recruiting the best, developing them to the highest standards, to achieve deep knowledge of the adversary and in-depth understanding of the maritime environment; therefore we will . . .

• Become the nation’s pre-eminent Intelligence and Information Operations work force
• Achieve a competitive advantage by harmonizing Intelligence and Information Operations
• Acquire a profound knowledge of adversaries and the environment
• Incorporate innovative information-based concepts, technologies, processes
• Recruit, develop and retain the brightest, most innovative and highly educated people we can attract who will lead our nation’s intelligence and information-based professions

Our future challenges are complex, but the desired end state for Navy Intelligence and Information Operations is simple and clear.

From Vice Admiral Dorsett's paper on the subject dated July 2008.

How Many Admirals Graduate From USNA?

Many years ago, I was with a small group of visitors, being driven by bus, who stopped at the United States Naval Academy for a brief tour of this national treasure. As we made our way through the main gate on foot, one member of our group asked the Marine corporal guarding the gate if he knew how many Admirals graduated from the Academy. The Marine thought for a few seconds and replied,

"None, Sir. I think they only graduate Ensigns and 2nd Lieutenants."

Happy Birthday United States Navy

CNO's 2nd Anniversary - 29 September 2009

I am usually pretty good about birthdays, anniversaries and such. But I missed this one.

From Galrahn over at USNI Blog who had this, and a lot more to say.

...My assessment is that ADM Gary Roughead has completely changed the Navy in just two years, and that action has made him a lot of enemies. The Navy rejects any changes as an instinct.

...ADM Gary Roughead took over as CNO under impossible conditions and circumstances on paper, and has executed his plan to put the Navy on a solid footing heading into the second decade of the 21st century. I have no idea what the new administration or the Secretary of Defense thinks of Admiral Gary Roughead as CNO, but I do know one thing: Gary Roughead was handed an impossible situation and has guided the Navy through the minefield to make the future Navy look a lot more possible, and whether one approves or disapproves of how he has done it, or the direction he is steering the ship…

For my part, I sincerely appreciate the CNO's willingness to carry on a dialog via e-mail with this retired Navy Captain. We've exchanged thoughts on diversity, the Navy as a Top 50 Employer, the VADM Stockdale Award and a few others. He's got a tough job, seems like an honorable man (who did not tolerate VADM Stufflebeem's semantic answers to the IG), and he cares about our Sailors. I am good with all that.

Congratulations CNO on a solid performance over the past two years. BZ.

Information Capable Warrior (ICW)

The genesis of the Information Capable Warrior study was a series of informal flag discussions begun at the All Flag Officer Training Symposium (AFOTS) in 2006 regarding the growing criticality for Navy warfighters to conduct effects-based operations in the Information Domain. This white paper represents a synthesis of the ideas that have been developed in various forums and discussions sponsored by Naval Network Warfare Command. Representatives from all Navy Unrestricted Line (URL) and information-centric communities—Information Professional (IP), Information Warfare (IW), Intelligence (INTEL), Foreign Area Officer (FAO), Public Affairs Officer (PAO), Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC), Space Cadre, and Electronic Warfare (EW)—have contributed ideas that have shaped the recommendations of this paper.

The rapid technological advances that have occurred in the past 20 years have introduced the Information Domain as an enabler of all other warfighting methods and, more importantly, as a domain of combat itself. As information has become a separate domain of the battlespace, the U.S. military must develop the next generation of warfighters who can operate, fight, and win in this domain. Delivering information effects must be treated as a functional peer to delivering effects in traditional surface, subsurface, air, and shore (Naval Expeditionary Combat Command - NECC) domains.

In you'd like a copy, shoot me an e-mail and I will send you the paper.

If you own the Information Capable Warrior blog, let me know. We'd like to start populating it with useful information about the Information Dominance Corps.

United States Naval Academy Established - 10 October 1845

By Old Fort Severn (near today’s 5th wing of Bancroft Hall), at 1100 on 10 October 1845, Commander Franklin Buchanan, USN, read his orders that established the Naval School to a complement of 50 midshipmen and seven of his staff, four of whom had been instructors and officers at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum. In 1850, the Naval School became the USNA, with a format of four years of study and seamanship training.

While the curriculum, grounds and uniforms have changed, the founding principles and commitment to moral, mental and physical development have endured for more than 160 years. The Naval Academy has adapted to the needs of the naval service. Today’s Naval Academy remains as relevant, and as important, to the Navy, to the Marine Corps and to the nation as at any time in its history.Naval Academy Alumni have always been important in the history of the United States Naval Academy. More than 76,000 men and women have graduated and gone on to be leaders dedicated to a career of naval service and have assumed the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

As we reflect on the founding of our great Academy, let us also remember our many graduates who are today serving and leading Sailors and Marines in harm’s way all over the globe, especially our active duty leadership on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Naval Academy graduates who make up the senior leadership that guides our military. To them we give our heartfelt thanks and support as they stand the watch to keep our nation free. To their families who keep the home fires burning, we extend our gratitude and offer the support of our entire Naval Academy family during these challenging times. Go Navy! Byron

Byron F. Marchant ‘78

((Note: Had I been worthy of admission to the USNA, 1978 would have been my class. Instead, I was OCS Class 82003 with 6 years of enlisted service credit.))

Improve Thinking In the Navy

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. - Alvin Toffler

Improving the quality of thinking in the Navy is crucial. If we are to improve our Navy’s ability to think, we must deal with two aspects of thinking: education and the environment. We must educate our Sailors about independent thinking. This involves making them more aware of their limitations, and teaching them to use a range of tools and techniques to encourage more divergent thinking.

Thinking techniques come from a wide variety of sources and can overcome some of the limitations we all have due to weaknesses in our brains’ construction, as well as overcoming the bad habits of thinking developed during a lifetime of exposure to education, training, social and work cultures.

Training Sailors to use these techniques is relatively easy and addresses ‘thinking’ by individuals and teams. The Navy must develop an environment that supports and encourages thinking. In many ways the environment is the most important, and difficult, challenge. If we train Sailors to use techniques that improve their thinking, but then do not support the use of those techniques within the workplace, we will fail. Changing the environment will take a long-term, consistent effort throughout the Navy.

Naval Education and Training Command–NETC should develop a ‘thinking’ approach to training. Instructors should become facilitators, coaches and mentors to students. Students should be encouraged to think more about what they are doing. If the Navy is to improve its ability to think, we must all play our part by supporting the application of thinking skills and techniques. We also need to encourage, recognize and reward good thinking.

SHAMELESSLY STOLEN FROM THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY here. It was originally Lieutenant Colonel Richard King's plea for a thinking Army. I made a few substitutions. I don't think he would mind.

Flag Officer Expertise - Information Warfare appears to be the most likely to become more important in the future

U.S. Navy officers typically rise through the ranks developing expertise in a particular area. They may be skilled at surface warfare, for example, or air or submarine warfare. When they become flag officers—officers who hold the rank of rear admiral or above—many are called on to lead and manage large Navy organizations. But do they have the complex array of skills they need to manage the Navy enterprise?

Navy leaders have become increasingly concerned that they do not. Working with the Navy’s Executive Learning Officer (ELO), the RAND National Defense Research Institute undertook a project to identify the expertise requirements of Navy flag officer positions, discover whether there is a gap in officer development, and, if so, determine the nature and size of the gap. The RAND researchers surveyed all Navy flag officers regarding the expertise required for their current positions, and they developed and ran a model that identifi ed primary and additional domain-specific skills that flag selectees would need to perform effectively in flag positions.

A review of ongoing and planned changes in Navy organization, personnel development, operational strategy, and technology suggested some areas for expertise-building. Information warfare appears to be the most likely to become more important in the future.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that the importance of any of the following traditional Navy areas of expertise will decline in the near future: surface warfare, submarine warfare, antisubmarine warfare, special warfare, expeditionary warfare, littoral warfare, intelligence, logistics and readiness, and sea basing.

From the RAND Report

Is the Navy Developing Flag Officers with the Expertise They Need?

then they gave us radios

... I would also say that the United States Navy has been no stranger to the world of networks and information and clearly as a service that relies heavily on technology, we have always had the challenge of communicating over long distances. From the first time we started going to sea and to show that I’m not exactly that far forward a thinker when it comes to cyber, one of my favorite quotes, I’ll also go back to Adm. Arleigh Burke when he said, “going to sea used to be fun and then they gave us radios.”

Some things haven’t changed, as I’ve said. But in a way, the Navy was the first to move to network operations. In fact, the first course that I attended as an ensign in the United States Navy on my way to my first ship was a course in the Naval Tactical Data System, NTDS. So even from my earliest days, we have been involved in networks and the sharing of information in an electronic medium.

We have been operating with integrated sensors and networks that bridge information and operations between our ships, our airplanes, our submarines and now our unmanned systems, guided missiles, satellites, facilities ashore and our computer networks.

Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations

in an address to CSIS discussing Information Dominance

Have a difference of opinion with the boss?- You own 'the difference'.

Naval officers put themselves at considerable risk when their vision and strategic intent are at odds with those of their boss. Some of our Navy bosses view their positions as non-negotiable. But, your having a different strategic vision than your boss may be simply a matter of degree and therefore not completely unacceptable.

Complicating the issue is that some senior leaders have an absolute unwillingness to share their vision with their subordinates. This may be the result of the senior's insecurity with their vision or even worse, their own lack of vision (i.e., they have nothing to share). Make your best effort to have good communications with the boss and do the best you can in extracting his strategic vision. Failing this, you're on your own and will have to maintain some level of self-awareness and a sensitivity to your boss's shortcomings.

Just know you are in shoal waters. Someone once said, "when you and your boss have a difference of opinion - your boss owns 'the opinion' and you own 'the difference'."

Give us Men !

Men-from every rank,
Fresh and free and frank;
Men of thought and reading,
Men of light and leading,
Men of loyal breeding,
The nation’s welfare speeding;
Men of faith and not of fiction,
Men of lofty aim in action;
Give us Men-I say again,
Give us Men!

Give us Men!
Strong and stalwart ones;
Men whom highest hope inspires,
Men whom purest honor fires,
Men who trample self beneath them,
Men who make their country wreath them
As her noble sons,
Worthy of their sires;
Men who never shame their mothers,
Men who never fail their brothers,
True, however false are others:
Give us Men-I say again,
Give us Men!

Give us Men!
Men who, when the tempest gathers,
Grasp the standard of their fathers
In the thickest fight;
Men who strike for home and later,
(Let the coward cringe and falter),
God defend the right!
True as truth the lorn and lonely,
Tender, as the brave are lonely,
Men who treat where saints have trod,
Men for Country, Home- and God:
Give us Men! I say again- again-
Give us Men!

Josiah Gilbert Holland

An Unhappy Ad - Ouch !!

From the classifieds - "The Capital" Annapolis, Maryland's hometown newspaper

FOR SALE - NEVER OPENED.

$100 OBO ($200 value) for a complete set of leadership books, including:

- Introduction to Naval Leadership
- Voices of Experience
- Leadership Embodied
- The Naval Profession
- Small Unit Leadership
- The Challenge of Command

Got passed over for Commander. *&^%# Won't be needing these.
Contact LCDR XXXXX at 410-216-XXXX.

Placeholder

Nothing on my mind right now.

Mentorship: A two way street

By Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, III Corps and Fort Hood Commander
October 1, 2009 | Editorial|

It’s led me to be here as the III Corps commander

During my first few hours as the III Corps commander, I had the opportunity to pass on my command philosophy to my subordinates and to the III Corps staff. I feel is it extremely important to set the tone and establish an environment of two-way communication right out of the gate.

Two-way communication is an exchange of information between a subordinate and leader. It allows each person to provide input, exchange ideas and allows the subordinate to obtain guidance and then provide feedback. Another type of relationship where this occurs is a mentoring relationship.

I’m an advocate of mentorship. I’ve been mentored many times during my career and I firmly believe it is what led me to be here today as the III Corps commander. In his article “Mentoring in the Military: Not Everybody Gets It” published in the Military Review November/December 2002, Maj. G. Joseph Kopser, special assistant to the chief of staff of the Army, spells out the role of both the mentor and the mentored. When I commanded 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Kopser was one of my lieutenants and is still one of my “mentorees.”

According to Kopser, there are “five steps in the lifelong learning process that officers can follow to increase the benefits mentoring can provide to their personal and professional careers.”

The first is becoming aware of your strengths and weaknesses. You must do your own internal assessment of who you are both professionally and personally before you can honestly identify what you hope to gain from and contribute to the mentoring relationship. Furthermore, in doing such an assessment, you will show sincerity. No one can possibly know everything, and as the junior member, it’s critical to understand that you have much to learn.

The second step is to understand what you would like from a potential mentor, and then seek him or her out. Much of this process is personality driven and that aspect of the relationship should be a consideration when selecting a mentor. Additionally, their unique professional background may be another consideration along with their strengths and attitudes toward mentorship.

Thirdly, once the relationship is established, work to maintain it. Show your mentor that you are interested and do the homework to keep the process going. Initiate topics of discussion, read professional literature and attend events that would enrich the development of the mentoring relationship. It is an investment for both parties. For the one being mentored, it is imperative that you do not waste your mentor’s resources – primarily his or her time. The work you do here will show your attentiveness to etiquette.

Observing mentoring rules of engagement and etiquette comprise the fourth step. Sincerity and loyalty are essential to a mentor. Being insincere or appearing to want the relationship for purely networking advantages will only help to dissolve the relationship. The same can be said for exposing information a mentor revealed in confidence. “Loyalty maximizes sponsorship and friendship.” Also, if the mentoring relationship is no longer beneficial, it is appropriate to end it. What is learned, both negative and positive, can be applied in future mentoring relationships.

The fifth step is a transition to the role of a mentor to others. At any point in your career, you could find yourself a mentor or a protégé. Application of what was learned in previous mentoring relationships will undoubtedly advance the next one – whether that is as a mentor or protégé.

Finally, Kopser reminds us that mentorship is voluntary. While it is possible to have a successful career without it, a leader will not achieve his or her greatest potential without a senior officer recognizing their abilities. A mentoring relationship is one that is pursued from a desire to do better.

Ask yourself what you have to lose and then examine what you have to gain. As a leader, it is your responsibility to become better than you are and to seek an improved and more effective way of doing things. On our Army team, our unique mission sets us apart from any other way of life. Mentorships can help decipher career mysteries and clarify questions you may have. It’s a relationship with those who know more than you, and that’s a relationship from which any of us can benefit.

Commander, TENTH Fleet Established

Today is an historical day. Congratulations to all the COMTENTHFLT plankowners and others involved in making this monumental event happen.

Congratulations also to Captain Justin F. Kershaw (former CO of NIOC Yokosuka, Japan) who was officially promoted to Captain today!!