Cyber slowness

In a moment of absolute candor, Air Force Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh III said he has to admit his own lack of knowledge about cyber and he said that he isn't really sure what an IP address is.

Welsh went on to say that more than 85 percent of the Airmen who are classified under cyber typically work on infrastructure, not operations, which is not the true definition of a "cyberwarrior".

"The Air Force doesn’t know what is expected from the joint partners in the cyber realm, and the rest of the Air Force doesn’t know what is happening inside its own service. I am just not sure we know exactly what we’re doing in it yet. And until we do, I’m concerned it’s a black hole".

What is your reputation worth?

Viewed a thoughtful TED presentation by Rachel Botsman recently and she was discussing the value of an individual's reputation.  She presented a 20 minute summary of several years of her research into reputation capital and the value of trust - which is the 'coin of the realm' in the naval officer community.  Rachel Botsman's ideas have been included in "10 Ideas That Will Change The World".  That's a pretty heavy endorsement - even for a recognized thought leader on the power of collaboration and the power of sharing.

She defined Reputation Capital as the worth of your reputation - intentions, capabilities and values across communities and marketplaces.

She examined the question of who trusts you and why they trust you in specific communities and marketplaces.  She talked about contextual reputation and why that is important. Her research has taken her far enough to allow her to develop a reputation dashboard.  Imagine how your performance might change (IMPROVE) if you knew and understood that your subordinates, peers and seniors had input to and could view your reputation dashboard.

I can see some real value in her work as it might relate to what the Navy is trying to accomplish with 360 degree feedback.  I like the idea of contextual reputation and our ability to put an officer's/Sailor's reputation into context (i.e., He's a great ship handler but he's a womanizer.  She's an awesome linguist but a lousy supervisor.  He does great with the Sailors but he cheats on his wife.  He's the best cyber network operator but he's an alcoholic.)  I'm more of a whole Sailor/person advocate but there are plenty of folks in our business who are completely satisfied with looking at things from a compartmented, single dimension (e.g., 'gets the job done') perspective.  I just can't get there from here. 

Some really decent thinking HERE from The Navy's Grade 36 Bureaucrat.

Navy fires number 18 - then Admirals exonerate him of charges

CAPTAIN COBELL WAS EXONERATED.  At the end of an all-day hearing, the board decided that CoBell should stay in the service. Further, the admirals unanimously agreed that he hadn't committed any of the misconduct for which he had already been punished.

Captain James CoBell III was officially fired by Admiral Cindy L. Jaynes, on 27 September from his assignment as commanding officer of Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic in Virginia Beach.  Admiral Jaynes is Commander Fleet Readiness Centers & NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Logistics and Industrial Operations. He had been relieved of his command on 10 September pending the results of an official Navy investigation into his "leadership practices."

Captain CoBell III was fired due to Admiral Jayne's "loss of confidence in his ability to command." 

Captain CoBell's offenses included failure to account for personal leave, use of abusive language toward personnel and use of subordinates for personal favors.

Pending administrative action, Captain James CoBell III has been assigned to the staff of Naval Air Force Atlantic.

ADDENDUM:  According to the Navy Times, Captain CoBell said that the charges were found to be unsubstantiated by the investigating officer and that Captain CoBell has not been told why he was reassigned.  STAY TUNED.

Challenge question

I was speaking with a Navy colleague this past week and naturally the discussion turns to how much of our lives were devoted to the Navy and our experiences aboard various ships, submarines and aircraft.  Between us had 67 years of experience in the Navy.  We were feeling pretty good about that and one of the active duty Lieutenant Commanders (a wise ass through and through) says -

"Do you guys really have 67 years of combined experience or just one year of experience repeated 67 times."  

And I got to thinking about how much of my Navy career was devoted to new experiences and how much was repeating old experiences over and over again.  Well, I'm still thinking....damn that Lieutenant Commander.

Food for thought

You can find more of Evan Robertson's thoughtful work HERE.

Popular belief...

Contrary to popular belief, people do not learn from experience. Rather, they respond to a particular stimulus in a deliberate way and thus predictably.

—Evan S. Connell
Son of the Morningstar
Custer and The Little Big Horn

For the forgetful...

"All commanding officers and others in authority in the naval service are required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor, patriotism and' subordination; to be vigilant in inspecting the conduct of all persons who are placed under their command; to guard against and suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and to correct, according to the laws and regulations of the Navy, all persons who are guilty of them; and to take all necessary and proper measures, under the laws, regulations and customs of the naval service, to promote and safeguard the morale, the physical well-being and the general welfare of the officers and enlisted persons under their command or charge."

U.S. Navy Regulations, 1990.

17th Navy Commanding Officer Fired

Captain Tony Cardoso, CO Training Support Center San Diego, was fired by Rear Admiral Donald Quinn, commander of Naval Education and Training Command.  The reason?  Loss of confidence in Captain Cardoso’s ability to command.

Admiral Quinn fired Captain Cardoso on 21 September after a hazing investigation.

The Navy's investigation centered on Marines being required to wear seabags on their backs for extended periods of time. This was confirmed as violations of the Navy’s policy on hazing.  Marines were made to stand with loaded sea bags while waiting for non-judicial punishment. Cardoso had been in command of TSC San Diego since February 2011.

Sage advice

Never use more than 3 words to say "I don't know"!

2012 VADM James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award Winners

Brian Sittlow

Chase Patrick

On 17 September 2012, the Navy announced the 2012 Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Leadership Award winners.  

Commander Chase Patrick, the Pacific Fleet winner, was chosen for his time in 2011 commanding the destroyer USS CHAFEE, based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A 1994 graduate of the University of Virginia, Patrick commanded Chafee until October, 2011. During his 18-year career, Commander Patrick has served aboard cruisers USS LAKE ERIE and USS PORT ROYAL, frigate USS CROMMELIN, destroyer USS PAUL HAMILTON and was the executive officer on destroyer USS CHUNG-HOON.  Commander Patrick holds master’s degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and the Marine Corps University, Command and Staff College.

Commander Brian Sittlow, CO of Norfolk, Virginia-based attack sub USS BOISE, is the Fleet Forces Command winner. Commander Sittlow is a 1993 Naval Academy graduate who has served aboard attack subs USS ARCHERFISH and USS VIRGINIA, deep submergence vessel NR-1 and ballistic missile sub USS HENRY M. JACKSON.  Commander Sittlow holds a master’s degree from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode, Island.

How to acquire virtuous values

Some may say that my views of officers and Commanders are outdated. I assure you-- while ships and weapons and circumstances may change, the concepts of honor and virtue are timeless. What was important and valued three hundred years before my service was valued when I was in uniform, is valued now, and will be valued three hundred years after your day.

I said before: virtue and honor requires two things. The understanding of what virtue and honor is, and the moral conviction to be virtuous. Of the two, the latter is most important, because with that conviction, you can attain understanding. But understanding without conviction is worthless.

That conviction is not in-borne; it is acquired. If you do not feel it, it can be grown within. How? By absorbing into your heart and soul the messages from the past. By talking to those who have served before you, and who embodied honor and virtue. And by reading. I assure you: if you read books, you will know. Read, and through those words, listen to the lives of Navy leaders like Preble, Decatur, Farragut, Dewey, Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance, O’Kane, Peary, Rickover, Stockdale, and Michael Murphy. Those lives, those stories, will paint for you the picture of Navy honor and virtue. If you don’t feel it after reading those stories, you never will.

You are an American naval officer. You have a terrible responsibility and a wonderful opportunity. We need you to be up to the task, in all respects. You must be above reproach. You must fulfill your duties. You must carry on the torch that I once held, and now pass to you. Our job never ends. 

What my friend Thomas Paine once wrote in 1776, still stands today, in many different ways:

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value."

JPJ (as written by RADM Wray, Director of the Navy's INSURV)

2008 - Fallen Crypologic Community Shipmate - CTM3 Matthew J. O'Bryant

Cryptologic Technician Maintenance (CTM) Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O'Bryant, 22, of Duluth, Georgia, left this earth on September 20, 2008 in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. Matthew was a valued member of the Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Maryland, Fort Meade, Maryland.

Rear Admiral William Leigher (OPNAV N3IO) had the sad but proud responsibility to meet this young man's remains in Dover, Delaware as he returned to American soil.

Our deepest sympathies and debt of unbounded gratitude go out to this patriot's family. This Sailor now 'rests his oars'. He has given this great Navy and our country the gift of his unselfish service and his life.  

We are forever in your debt Shipmate.

Rest easy, your Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Maryland Shipmates have the watch.

Four years have passed.  We will not forget our duty to remember you and your service.

You can read more about Matt HERE on the National Security Agency tribute page on the Cryptologic Memorial Wall.

We never hear from the leadership

Oh, how many times I have heard that tired refrain - "We never hear from the leadership."  Well, here you go.  Here is the leadership.  He is speaking to YOU.  Nearly a full hour of unscripted, unedited, unabridged and understandable "leader speak" from the senior leader of the Information Warfare/Cryptologic community.  Spend an hour with VADM Michael S. Rogers, Commander U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/TENTH Fleet as he discusses the challenges of protecting the cyber components of U.S. Naval assets, offensive and defensive cyber-capabilities, and much more, in this fascinating lunch hour talk at the Stockdale Center's 2012 McCain Conference, "Warfare in a New Domain: The Ethics of Military Cyber Operations".  The full video is HERE.

IWOs who would like a DVD of this session, send me an e-mail and I will shoot one out to you.  Only the first 840 IWOs who respond will be eligible for this free offer ;-)   While supplies last.  The usual legal disclaimers apply.

Remembering Pat Feeks - Warrior

Pat Feeks and his wife Emily

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”
― Thucydides

Our thoughts and prayers are with you always.  You both have honored the Navy and the Nation with your service.

SIXTEENTH NAVY CO FIRED

Captain George Whitbred, Commander, Navy Region Midwest Reserve Component Command fired Commander Sheryl Tannahill (USNA '90) due to a loss of confidence in her ability to command.  Commander Tannahill was CO of Navy Operational Support Center Nashville, Tennessee.  She was fired on 14 September.  She was selected for Captain and had orders to the Navy Inspector General's office in Washington D.C.  The promotion and assignment are on hold.

A Navy press release said: 

"The responsibility of officers in command, for their units, sailors and mission, is absolute; we take their performance very seriously. Standards of conduct and performance for commanding officers are extremely high."