Hotly Contested Views

Leaders should expect their views to be hotly contested. In many instances the counterpoints will be expressed thoughtfully and at length—but also unsparingly. Such exchanges nevertheless can be productive, because it is often through engaging opposing perspectives that truth can emerge. Spirited debate is a hallmark of America’s military success.

Other times, the feedback is markedly less civil. In an era of anonymous blogs, it is especially easy for nameless detractors to spew venom without accountability. This new anonymity runs counter to the core value of integrity that is common to all our services.

CHARLES J. DUNLAP JR.
Major General, USAF Deputy Judge Advocate General
in his paper The Contact Sport Senior Leaders Must Play


Note: Have the courage to own your opinions. Leave your name with your comments.

A Naval officer's development

You have arrived at a new place in your development as a Naval officer and as a Commanding Officer when you understand that you can call in your Sailors to help you do a better job together than you can do all by yourself.

MCPON Thomas Crow

Last Friday I had the opportunity to have lunch with the former Chief of Naval Personnel, VADM Lando W. Zech Jr. Our lunch discussions always make their way toward fine leaders in the Navy and he reminded me of his association and friendship with MCPON Thomas Crow and his wife Carol. VADM Zech told me about how he, CNO ADM Hayward and MCPON Crow established the Navy's Senior Enlisted Academy in Newport, Rhode Island in 1981. It was MCPON Crow's vision of the SEA that made it a reality. MCPON Crow passed away 30 November 2008. His passing affected VADM Zech deeply. MCPON Crow was my second MCPON. This is what VADM Zech had to say about MCPON Crow:

"I will always remember Tom Crow for his great support and his many accomplishments but I will remember him especially: First, for his lovely wife, Carol. Admiral Hayward recognized the importance of family to the sailor and authorized Carol to travel with Tom. This proved to be great initiative. Carol was a wonderful representative, an excellent listener, a very fine speaker, a valuable source of information and a great credit to the Navy. Second, the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy.... Tom Crow believed that having an Academy dedicated to our Senior Enlisted personnel and located in the vicinity of our Naval War College would enhance "Pride and Professionalism" and would be a real boon to senior enlisted leadership. He felt very strongly that the Navy should have its own Academy. Mainly through Tom's personal and forceful drive, the Navy did in 1981 establish its own Senior Enlisted Academy. I was very proud to be there with him to cut the ribbon. Lastly, I will always remember Tom Crow as someone who consistently showed superb leadership by example on a daily basis. He was a strong spokesman for entire enlisted community and he never forgot that he was a Sailor from the fleet and that readiness and fleet are what it's all about. He was one great Shipmate!"

Vice Admiral Lando W. Zech Jr., USN (Retired)
Former CNP

A little BROADSIDE from Jeff Bacon

Well defined strategic concept

‘If a service does not possess a well defined strategic concept, the public and the political leaders will be confused as to the role of the service, uncertain as to the necessity of its existence and apathetic or hostile to the claims made by the service upon the resources of society.’

Samuel P. Huntington
May 1954 issue of USNI's "Proceedings"

Captain Jan E. Tighe Selected for IW Flag

Captain Jan E. Tighe, United States Naval Academy (USNA) class of 1984 was selected for Rear Admiral by the FY11 Flag Officer Selection Board. Captain Tighe is currently serving as executive assistant to LTG Keith Alexander, the commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

CONGRATULATIONS !!

1st female pilot for USAF Thunderbirds

Lieutenant Colonel Nicole M.E. Malachowski is rated a Senior Pilot with more than 2,100 flying hours, including more than 1,000 hours in the F-15E. Lt Col Malachowski is a distinguished 2002 graduate of the Air Force's Squadron Officer School and was inducted into the Women in Aviation, International, Pioneer Hall of Fame in 2008.

She flew in the number 3 position with the USAF Flight Demonstration Squadron THUNDERBIRDS from 2006 to 2007.

During her second tour at Lakenheath, England, Captain Malachowski deployed for four months in early 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, flying 26 combat missions.

A Sailor is unique - demands only grow

“A Sailor is truly unique because he must have the capacity to simultaneously love his country…his service…his family…his shipmates…and the sea. He needs each of them unquestionably as each of them needs him…and the demands placed on him never diminish, they only grow.”

Admiral Bulkeley

Not surprised

Yesterday, in changes to DADT across the DoD, the Secretary of Defense removed the authority of Commanding Officers to separate Sailors from the Navy for homosexual conduct. The new changes raise the rank of officers who are authorized to initiative fact-finding inquiries or separation proceedings under DADT to generals or flag officers.

In other words, Commanding Officers can not be trusted to do this properly. We need Flag officers who are more in tune with the political realities of DADT and who will consider those realities before acting.

Communicate his Ideas on Paper

"None other than a Gentleman, as well as a seaman, both in theory and practice is qualified to support the character of a Commissioned Officer in the Navy, nor is any man fit to command a Ship of War who is not also capable of communicating his Ideas on Paper in Language that becomes his Rank."

John Paul Jones
to the Marine Committee, 21 January 1777

Captain Michael Hawley shows appreciation for his abused USS WASP crew - then he is fired in disgrace

USS Wasp (LHD 1) held a change of command ceremony, April 11 2009, at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.

Capt. Daniel H. Fillion relieved Capt. Michael D. Hawley as commanding officer.

To show his appreciation to the Wasp crew, Hawley ordered the ceremony to be conducted in working uniforms, vice the traditional Service Dress Blues, and even provided chairs so his Sailors could sit, rather than have them stand in formation.

From an official Navy press release.

His arrogance is exceeded only by his complete lack of integrity. A small man made large by a command at sea pin. His sense of entitlement is incomprehensible.

MCPON Joe R. Campa's first Chief

My first Chief had spent most of his near 30 years in the Navy at sea - and it showed. He had a long beard and his khakis were almost bleached white from the countless hours of being exposed to the sun, salt and spray of the ocean. His voice was kind of grizzled and wherever he walked, he left behind a little trail of salt.

Now this Chief was not a man of many words, but when he did speak we listened. He knew the ship, he knew his rate and he had a sixth sense about the sea.

I recall working on the boat deck one day, when the Chief came by—he stepped close to me and looked up at the sky, out at the horizon. He started to tell me to secure things topside for heavy weather. I looked around--the sky was clear--the seas were calm but sure enough a few hours later we were getting pounded by heavy rain and rough seas.

The Chief also had something that I refer to now as cop presence. When he walked into a space the tone of the entire space changed, if you were doing something that you thought he’d frown upon, you immediately stopped.

When he went up to the pilot house to check on those of us standing watch, he’d step on the bridge even the Captain sat up a little straighter in his chair.

That was my Chief.

Joe. R. Campa Jr.
11th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy

You can read the rest of MCPON Campa's speech for the 232nd Navy birthday - HERE.

As we head toward the 117 anniversary of the creation of the Chief Petty Officer on 1 April 2010, my hope for every Sailor and officer is that they be as fortunate as MCPON Campa was to have a Chief like his.

For the Chiefs, my hope is that you are this Chief for every Sailor and officer with whom you serve.

I know of few compliments that are equal to - "He's my Chief."

Principled, accountable and responsible

"If ever there was a time and place to apply the lessons that we know about principled, accountable, and responsible leadership, then now is the time and this is the wartime mission. Shipmates take care of shipmates… it is the model of leadership that has proven itself consistently across the expanse of our successful, storied history; we owe shipmates serving on the ground nothing less than our best effort."

Admiral Patrick M. Walsh
Jesuit College Preparatory (Dallas, Texas) Distinguished Graduate/Alumnus
Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Office of Intelligence - 128 years new today

GENERAL ORDER No. 292

March 23, 1882.

An “Office of Intelligence” is hereby established in the Bureau of Navigation for the purpose of collecting and recording such naval information as may be useful to the Department in time of war, as well as in peace.

To facilitate this work, the Department Library will be combined with the “Office of Intelligence,” and placed under the direction of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.

Commanding and all other officers are directed to avail themselves of all opportunities which may arise to collect and to forward to the “Office of Intelligence” professional matters likely to serve the object in view.

William H. Hunt,
Secretary of the Navy

Cryptologic Rockstar !!

This naval aircrewman rocks !!

Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) 1st Class (NAC/AW) Nolan D. Workman, an EP-3 special operator instructor based at Navy Information Operations Command Misawa, Japan, is the Naval Network Warfare Command Sea Sailor of the Year.

Leadership thoughts from the FBI for a Monday

Some general characteristics of good leadership are universal.

Good leaders:

• understand that circumstances change and that they must remain flexible.
• empower everyone in their organization and always treat others as they want to be treated.
• are selfless and develop subordinates' traits of leadership.
• good leaders have solid integrity and trust in their own abilities, as well as those of their employees.
• take ownership of a situation or problem regardless of how small.
• foster a team attitude.

A U.S. Special Operations Command general stated, "The whole organization stands a little taller and breathes a sigh of relief as the guidon is passed from a poor leader to a good leader!"

Followers and those outside a leader's purview observe actions, thoughts, words, and facial expressions. Leaders must remain aware aware of even their smallest gestures because their integrity is as delicate as their leadership position.

The more you write, the less you die

Lack of Confidence in Senior Leaders

At the core of all of these (retention) issues is leadership. A belief that the hardships we endure will ease can be sustained only if junior officers have confidence in their leaders. Most don't. And recent events have given them little reason to hope for improvement.

One message from division officers in the fleet was very clear: As we cut manpower and budgets, but keep our level of commitments largely unchanged, the squeeze is felt very painfully at the deck-plate level. Most will agree that our administrative burden has increased steadily over past decades. As a unit's manning slips lower, the remaining crew must work harder to fulfill administrative requirements, which now are scrutinized even more closely in an effort to look better to those up the chain of command.

We saw enormous frustration because of the increased workload caused by gapped or cut billets, drops in repair parts and supply support, and dishonest readiness reporting. Many JOs described increasing difficulty in getting repair parts in a timely manner; parts frequently were removed from nondeployed aircraft and ships so others could sail with all required equipment. Some didn't receive replacements until after training cycle work-ups and were unable to train with certain pieces of vital equipment prior to deployment. Yet readiness was reported as C-1.

Instead of seeing their senior leaders standing up to address these problems, they are turning on the news to hear, "Our readiness has never been higher," and "We can support 2.0 carrier presence in Central Command as long as we need to."

These junior officers acknowledge that we must answer the nation's call, but they feel we also must show what missions we can continue to perform with our shrinking resources. We need to see our senior leaders explain to Congress that the costs of "doing more with less" are being paid with checks written on the backs of our people.

Heartbreaking comments were made by JOs on board several forward-deployed ships: "You come out here and talk to us, as many other flag officers have, but we don't see any action. You may care, but nobody in D.C. does." And, "We keep saying we're going to stop doing more with less, but I haven't seen it happen yet." Or, "At home, our squadrons can hardly fly: we don't have the parts, the aircraft, or the flight hours."

RADM John T. Natter
Listening to Junior Officers

RADM Paul W. Dillingham - Former Commander, Naval Security Group Command

"Your letter was totally unexpected, but of course, very welcome in today’s world where rarely is time taken to even acknowledge that there were antecedents to the leaders of the current Navy and its various specialties. However, I was very pleased to learn from a serving officer, that the Cryptologic and Information Warfare Community (ies?) are still held in very high esteem. His name, as I recall, is Berenson and he is a Surface Warfare Officer in the Pentagon in the Surface Warfare organization, which used to be Op-03 in the old days. He is a USNA graduate and probably at least a 0-6, but probably an 0-7 or 0-8. We talked about the “good old days” when he served in FRAM-II destroyers and I loaded SIGINT Collection Vans on the helo pads when the ships checked into to the Mediterranean with a stop at Rota, and of course, the early days of OUTBOARD. The Group (whatever it is collectively called these days; the “Naval Security Group” was so much “clearer” a collective) has not lost a bit of its reputation for its ability to innovate and achieve at very high levels of excellence."

From his e-mail to me on 18 March 2010.

Admiral Munns - Revisited

P 092106Z JUN 05 PSN 727541I26
FM COMNAVSUBFOR NORFOLK VA//N00//
TO ALSUBFOR
BT
UNCLAS PERSONAL FOR COMMANDING OFFICERS INFO ADM DONALD FROM VADM MUNNS
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAVSUBFOR/-/JUN//

SUBJ/OFFICER TACTICAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT//

RMKS/1. CAPTAINS, AS OUR HUMAN CAPITAL STRATEGY MOVES FORWARD, I WOULD LIKE TO BRIEFLY DISCUSS WITH YOU IN THIS MESSAGE ONE OF YOUR FOREMOST OBLIGATIONS TO THE FORCE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR OFFICERS' TACTICAL SKILLS. AS THE SUBMARINE ENTERPRISE FOCUSES ON THE CO NODE, YOUR FOCUS MUST INCLUDE THE CRUCIAL DEPARTMENT HEAD NODE BECAUSE THIS IS THE FORMATIVE CAREER PHASE WHEN FUTURE COMMANDING OFFICERS MUST TRULY DEVELOP THEIR WARFIGHTING SKILLS. IN USING THE TERM SKILLS, I MEAN MUCH MORE THAN THE HIGH STANDARD OF KNOWLEDGE YOU EXPECT OF A NEWLY REPORTED DEPARTMENT HEAD, I ALSO MEAN RICH AND VARIED EXPERIENCES. WHILE THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT YOUR JUNIOR WATCH OFFICERS ARE READY TO TAKE THE DECK AND THE CONN, RECOGNIZE THAT A DEPARTMENT HEAD NEEDS HARD-EARNED EXPERIENCE AND GROOMING IN THE ART AND SCIENCE OF SUBMARINE WARFARE IF HE IS TO ONE DAY HAVE YOUR JOB. THE PATH TO GET THERE CANNOT BYPASS AMPLE TIME ON THE CONN.

2. WITH AN AVERAGE OF ELEVEN JUNIOR OFFICERS IN EVERY WARDROOM, THE BALANCING OF EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS YOUR TEAM CAN BE A DAUNTING LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE. FURTHER, YOUR DEPARTMENT HEADS LABOR UNDER AN EVER-PRESENT ADMIN BURDEN THAT COULD, WITHOUT YOUR LEADERSHIP AND ATTENTION, CAPTURE ALL OF THEIR ENERGY. WE MUST FIND THE BALANCE IN THIS TOUGH EQUATION TO MAKE YOUR DEPARTMENT HEADS SEASONED WARFIGHTERS WHILE ALSO MAKING YOUR JUNIOR OFFICERS COMPETENT SHIP DRIVERS.

3. BE AWARE THAT THE OVER ACCESSION OF JUNIOR OFFICERS HAS SUBSIDED, AND WARDROOM SIZE SHOULD RETURN TO NORMAL AS THE CURRENT GROUP TRANSFERS TO SHORE DUTY. UNTIL THEN, USE THE EXPERIENCE LOG, SOLICIT YOUR DEPARTMENT HEADS' PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE, DISCUSS YOUR SITUATION WITH YOUR COMMODORE AND, AS ALWAYS, RELY HEAVILY ON YOUR OWN OBSERVATIONS AND INTUITION TO DEVELOP YOUR ACTION PLAN.

4. THE FUTURE OF THE SUBMARINE FORCE DEPENDS UPON YOUR PERSONAL ABILITY TO COACH, MENTOR, AND INSPIRE YOUR OFFICERS. YOUR DEPARTMENT HEADS AS WELL AS YOUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS NEED YOUR MENTORSHIP TO FURTHER DEVELOP AND HONE SUBMARINE WARFIGHTING SKILLS.

5. I WOULD ASK THAT YOU SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND METHODS WITH EACH OTHER, AND WHERE YOU THINK YOU HAVE A BEST PRACTICE, PASS IT UP THROUGH YOUR ISIC.

6. KEEP CHARGING, AND GOOD TEACHING, C. L. MUNNS.//

Number seven is in the books

Commander Jeff Cima, Commanding Officer of USS CHICAGO (SSN-721) which is homeported in Pearl Harbor, was fired by SUBRON 3 for a drunken episode while at an ROTC unit (Cornell University) on the U.S. mainland. News reports suggest that he and another USS CHICAGO junior officer very overly intoxicated and the Cornell NROTC midshipmen had to phone for assistance in getting the 2 CHICAGO officers safely back to their hotel.

Commander Cima had been in command for less than a year (August 2009). He previously served as Executive Officer of USS PENNSYLVANIA (Blue).

He was "command qualified" while a Lieutenant Commander serving as the Engineering Officer aboard USS PASADENA.

He joins our list of fired Commanding Officers in the number 7 position. Not so lucky, in this case.

Jeff Cima's video of USS CHICAGO crew visit to Chicago is HERE.

Commanding Officer's Standing Orders

Standing Orders is a unique genre presented by the commanding officer of a ship to his watch standers. This genre has four distinct communicative purposes.

• First, it establishes and reinforces the relationship between the commanding officer and his or her watch standers.
• Second, it serves the function of making tacit, experiential knowledge explicit.
• Third, Standing Orders issue the commanding officers watch standing philosophy.
• Fourth, Standing Orders facilitate watch stander action.

Understanding these four Standing Order purposes leads to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the document’s importance. Deeper knowledge of communicative purpose allows both writers and users to examine effectiveness. In other words, understanding the nature of the role Standing Orders play aboard ships is the first step in determining the effectiveness of these orders in playing that role.

Kyle Hugh Turner

Masters Thesis

Naval Postgraduate School

Lessons in Command: # 17 and #18

Lesson 17: Have fun in your command.

Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it: Spend time with your families.

Corollary: "Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard." Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous pretentious "professional;" I'll help them find jobs with my competitor.

Lesson 18: Command is lonely.

Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary head of a project team, the buck stops here. You can encourage participative management and bottom-up employee involvement but ultimately, the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough,unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization. I've seen too many non-leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you create an informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.

General Colin Powell

In his own hand

The Vice Admiral who wrote my first set of orders as a naval officer back in 1982 and I are still connected nearly 28 years later. Vice Admiral Lando W. Zech Jr., was the Chief of Naval Personnel when I was commissioned an Ensign from Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island.

Little did I know that he had also written the orders on CWO3 Wallace Louis Exum, sending him to be our navigation instructor at OCS. He was 55 years old and nearing the end of his long and illustrious Navy career - 43 years in all - with 18 of those at sea. He taught us well - lessons in navigating life. I couldn't use a maneuvering board to save my life, today. That lesson didn't stick.

Even though he lives only 5 miles away, VADM Zech still takes the time to write me a note "in his own hand" every couple of weeks on his official Navy stationary. When his health allows, I pick him up and we enjoy lunch at his favorite place. A legendary submariner, VADM Zech also served as the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I am anxious to hear his views on women in submarines. He is a progressive, forward thinking man of incredible objectivity. I am sure he has given it much thought.

Dedication in our Naval profession

Dedication to the mission, to the people, and long hours at work form the foundation of a successful intelligence professional. I remember one of my seniors telling me that “they call work ‘work’ for a reason...if it was meant to be fun, they would have called it ‘fun’.” While I don’t quite agree with that line, it does support my belief that putting in extra hours is a normal part of being successful in this business. If you truly desire success, it’s not good enough to simply say you want the most challenging job – most of us fit into that category. What differentiates the truly successful is that they excel in the tough assignment, and are then “rewarded” with another challenging job. Many of these demanding jobs require putting in a bit of overtime. Seniors recognize those who put in the extra time; but, they also recognize whether there is productivity associated with folks who are staying late, or whether folks are just putting in long hours but not achieving much for the time expended.

I’d much rather see someone work a “normal” work week and get all her or his tasks completed on time. Few seniors like people to stay around just to stay around and be seen. That doesn’t impress very many people, and certainly doesn’t impress one’s family. Dedication to our profession comes at a price...the cost for this level of success is frequently measured by less time at home, with your family, or with your hobbies. You need to figure out how much you intend to invest at work and with your family. You need to achieve an optimal balance...to paraphrase a former boss “When your Navy career is over, your shipmates will all be miles away involved in their own lives, all you will have left is your family...so you better take care of them!”

From VADM Jack Dorsett's
THE ART OF SUCCESS IN NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

We are in permanent whitewater

Unit cohesion can only be developed through trust and confidence in leadership. That is why clear accountability, open and honest communication, and decisive action are what I expect from my commanders. Lean forward, support your people, hold fast to our tried and true standards, and get the job done - as we always have and always will, because we are the United States Navy.

Admiral Harvey, Fleet Forces Command

Female Naval Aviator Number 1

LTjg Barbara Allen received the wings of gold of a naval aviator on 22 February 1974. She became the first female naval aviator in history.

Allen and seven other women reported for flight training on March 2, 1973 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. She was the first of her class to win her Gold Wings and was designated the first female Naval Aviator in history in ceremonies at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 22, 1974. She was assigned to fly C-1s in Alameda, California with a transport squadron and became the first jet qualified woman in the U. S. Navy flying the T-39.

Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Allen Rainey, the mother of two daughters, the Navy's first female aviator was tragically the victim of a training crash in 1982. Her student was also killed.

Naval Security Group - 11 March 1935

On 11 March 1935, Op-20G became the "Communication Security Group."

This date commemorates the birth of the Naval Security Group.

By Alvin H. Grobmeier, CDR, USN (Ret.)

Historically, the Naval Security Group began in 1916 when the Code and Signal Section was established in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. In 1918 our first modern codes were issued. They were copied after British codes used by us during World War I.

After the armistice was signed, an intelligence clerk from the Cable Censor's Office was transferred to the Code and Signals Section for research work in the development of codes and ciphers. This was the beginning of communications intelligence research. It became apparent at once that in order to learn the weakness of codes and ciphers, and hence how to construct secure ones, the first essential was to learn to solve them by cryptoanalysis.

There is no evidence that the Navy engaged in radio intercept during World War I, but the Navy definitely has been engaged in radio intercept since the early 1920s. In 1923 the Office of Naval Intelligence requested that all ships of the Asiatic Fleet forward intercepted Japanese and commercial code messages. In 1924 and possibly before, the naval radio station at the Navy Purchasing Office, Shanghai, China was intercepting and forwarding Japanese traffic. In 1924 the Naval Radio Station San Francisco was forwarding all official Japanese traffic to the Code and Signals Section and in that same year the first Navy intercept station was established in the U.S. Consulate at Shanghai.

In early1935, in accordance with joint action of the Army and Navy, radio intelligence was determined to be a function of communications and the Navy portion of radio intelligence was assigned to the Office of Naval Communications. On 11 March 1935, Op-20G became the "Communication Security Group." This date commemorates the birth of the Naval Security Group.

In 1942 Op-20G expanded into seventeen subsections and its chief became as Assistant Director for Communication Intelligence in the Office of Naval Communications. This coincided with the inclusion of all COMINT functions, including direction finding, under one officer. On 7 February 1943 Op-20G moved from the Army-Navy Building on Constitution Ave. to the new Communication Supplementary Annex, 3801 Nebraska Ave., Washington D.C. This location was later renamed Naval Communication Station Washington, D.C. and in Sept. 1950 it became the Naval Security Station.

On 28 January 1950 the following functional organizations were designated the Naval Security Group: Communications Supplementary Activities, Communications Security Activities, and Special Electronics Search Projects. In June 1960 the Registered Publication Section was added. In 1953 the organization now designated the Naval Security Group included Naval Communication Units, Security Group Departments of Naval Communication Stations, Naval Security Detachments and Registered Publication Issuing Offices.

In 1956, the U.S. Naval Security Group Headquarters Activity was established and in 1961 it was redesignated Naval Security Group Headquarters under the Director, Naval Security Group. The Naval Security Group Command, now under a Commander, reporting directly to the Chief of Naval Operations was activated 1 July 1968.

The Naval Security Group Command moved from the Naval Security Station to Fort Meade, Maryland in November 1995. The Naval Security Group Command was disestablished Sept 30, 2005, and on October 1, 2005 it was aligned with the Naval Network Warfare Command, Norfolk, Virginia. This action abolished the Naval Security Group after 70 years of service to the nation.

Great News From the CNO

"There are more things we can do, there are more things we will do, and there are more things that together we are going to make the United States Navy an even better place to be, to serve and be a better service for our nation."

Admiral Gary Roughead
Chief of Naval Operations



GENERAL EXCELLENCE
U.S. Navy, Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Navy has instituted a number of workforce policies responsive to sailors who want more control over their careers. Just as employers in the private sector are discovering, the Navy understands that the new generation of workers is demanding greater flexibility and more opportunities for education and career development. Task Force Life/Work is a program designed to help sailors attain more balance between their professional and personal responsibilities. As a result, the Navy has made improvements to maternity benefits, parental leave and flexible work options. The Navy also offers tuition assistance, significantly boosting the number of sailors who obtain associate and bachelor’s degrees and other educational credentials while serving. “The leadership to the very top of the Navy realizes that we’re in a war for talent,” says Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson III, chief of naval personnel and deputy chief of naval operations. “We recruit a sailor, but we retain a family.” For the totality of its workforce initiatives, the U.S. Navy is the winner of the 2009 Optimas Award for General Excellence.

Assessing Performance: leadership standards, accountability, responsibility

Leadership at every level depends on integrity to assess the performance of our people honestly and openly. We can only deal with internal threats if we can rely on the quality of the information in our official records. There are serious effects of failure to reflect fully, accurately, and completely on all aspects of professional, ethical, and personal career development in performance appraisals.

We must instill and preserve the core traits that sustain our profession and keep our forces strong, effective and safe. Entrusting our leaders with the responsibility, authority and resources necessary to carry our their missions is essential, but with responsibility comes accountability. My expectation is that our leaders will set the standards for leadership, management, and mentoring, and will be accountable for the health and performance of the force.

Extracted from SECDEF MEMO of March 2, 2010
SUBJECT: Fort Hood Investigation

What you get when you simply look for excellence - without quotas

Sixteen extraordinary professionals were recognized with Copernicus Awards in 2010. This is the kind of diversity I'm talking about. Excellence knows no color, sex, ethnicity, race, paygrade or any other 'discriminators'. These people are leaders in their professions and represent the best of the C4ISR community. This is the kind of cross section of America you get when you allow excellence to be the only discriminating characteristic - THERE WERE NO QUOTAS!!!

Congratulations to all the winners!! Read more about them HERE.

Not one of them needed any 'hyphenated' assistance (i.e., woman-Copernican, black-Copernican, Asian-Copernican, Coast Guard-Copernican, etc) in reaching the highest levels of C4ISR excellence. Each selectee is exceptional in his/her own right. Information Dominance Corps professionals - leading the way.

360 Degree Feedback - Something like this could have helped Captain Holly Graf - I'm not kidding or piling on. 360 Degree Feedback works.

Enhancing Individual Leaders – 360 Degree Feedback Survey

“I personally benefited in receiving the best feedback in 34 years as a naval officer on how others see me. Honest, constructive feedback from seniors, peers and subordinates enhanced my leadership skill set, and I think it (360 degree feedback) can do the same thing throughout the Navy.”

Vice Admiral Tim LaFleur, Commander, U.S. Naval Surface Forces, 8 October 2004

As part of the Human Capital Strategy, the Navy is testing a new pilot program designed to enhance individual leadership skills. Corporate executives have tested a multi-rater feedback system over the last five years designed to provide honest and frank feedback on their performance within the work environment. Taking the lead from industry, a 360 degree feedback pilot program is currently being tested within the surface warfare officer community as a potential counseling tool to be implemented fleetwide.

• Success in the pilot program will ultimately result in a more professional and qualified officer corps. The measurable analysis will help to shape the counseling process and assist in developing a training plan with the goal of improving performance.
• The pilot program which began in October and is running through September 2007, will be tested onboard a small number of ships, large shore commands, one NROTC unit and at the Surface Warfare Development Group.
• Leadership competencies will be graded in four areas including: self-assessment and assessment by three superiors, three peers and three subordinates.
• The information will be constructive in nature, for counseling purposes only, and will remain confidential. The information will not be entered into fitness reports or be used in administrative screening boards or statutory promotions. If the participant elects, he/she can share the information with their respective chain of command.
  

Like so many other Navy things - GREAT start and poor follow through.

You can read my article about "360 Degree Feedback - Can we really handle the truth?" from USNI's PROCEEDINGS MAGAZINE

Loss of Confidence

Yesterday, I received a thoughtful note from one of my fellow former Commanding Officers on the subject of Navy Commanding Officers being relieved for 'loss of confidence'. The writer suggested that the relief of these COs should be described in Public Affairs releases as ...

"Captain Smith was relieved for violating the sacred trust placed in him/her by superiors and for trampling upon the leadership covenant with our Sailors. We deeply regret the error of selecting this individual for command and will endeavor to do better in the future. Regret the inconvenience and damage this may have done to your careers and the image of our Navy." "Please carry-on."

Senior Member, Command Screening Board

"GENERAL QUARTERS" offers sound advice

...as Commanding Officer, I had one standing order:

"At all times, use your best judgment."

Unfortunately, nowadays, it seems like there is an acute shortage of exactly that - judgment.

Cryptologic Rock Star - Senior Chief Twiford

Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (SW/SS/AW) David Twiford, USS Constitution command senior chief, presents a helm used aboard “Old Ironsides” to ship six during a ceremony at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes. Ship six is also known as USS Constitution, and the helm will be on display aboard their quarterdeck.

Ladies and gentlemen, this Senior Chief is a Rock Star in my book. BZ Senior Chief Twiford !!

In Case You May Have Forgotten - Captain Kathleen McGrath - awesome Naval officer. Sorely missed by family and Shipmates !

WOMEN ARE 100% CAPABLE OF SERVING IN COMMAND OF NAVY COMBATANT SHIPS!! DO NOT DOUBT THAT FOR A MILLISECOND.

USS Jarrett (FFG-33) is the first ship of that name in the US Navy. She was also the first US Navy warship to be commanded by a woman, Commander Kathleen A. McGrath, from 18 December 1998 until 4 September 2000. By all counts, she was a superb Commanding Officer and went on to make Captain. I was certain that she would make Flag. I was deeply saddened that she passed away from lung cancer before that happened. She is buried (appropriately) in Arlington National Cemetary.

In March 2000, Mark Thompson, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, wrote an excellent article about her in TIME Magazine. You can read it HERE.

Unfortunately, nearly 10 years later (to the day almost), he was forced by circumstances to write about a less successful female commanding officer, Captain Holly A. Graf - HERE.

Sex, race, religion, ethnicity are not determining factors in successful command tours - character, competency and charisma - are a bit more important.

I love this quote from CDR McGrath's Executive Officer at the time, "She's not in command because she's a woman," says her second-in-command, Lieutenant Commander Joseph Chiaravallotti. "She's in command because she's better than everyone else who's not in command." But as McGrath has proved herself, most of the doubters have come around. McGrath's crew seems generally impressed with her.

Worth Repeating - Moral Imperative of Naval Command

"I have known men in leadership positions who were neither intelligent nor energetic nor moral. They created as much havoc among our own forces as an enemy. In most cases they were quickly found out and summarily removed, but their mere existence (at the Flag level) represented a failure of leadership on the part of their seniors, the ones responsible for or who tolerated their appointment."

"The primary responsibility of a Naval officer in every grade is to ... improve leadership at every echelon."

Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (Ret)
Chief of Naval Operations, 1974-1978
My First CNO
In the Foreword to AMERICAN ADMIRALSHIP

Recognizing your people

Good leaders spend considerable time complimenting and thanking the people who work for them. It is quite an art to do this in a way that conveys sincerity, compliments people who should be complimented, and subtly leaves out people who do not deserve to be thanked or commended.

This is contrary to some of the common platitudes we often hear:

• "You are all doing a great job."
• "I'm extremely proud of all of you."
• "Every one of you is a hero."
• "Every Sailor is a leader."
  

Leaders should be sensitive to the great advantage of im­mediate recognition. They should have compliments, awards, bonuses, and medals at the ready, so when someone does something extraordinary (or something ordinary in an extraor­dinary way or with extraordinary results) immediate recogni­tion can result.

Compliments can be a very powerful tool in motivating people to perform at higher levels of excellence and cooperation. This is especially true of the compliments that are well timed and well phrased. Conversely, the absence of compli­ments can be devastating to an organization. Too many leaders take the attitude that their people are "only doing their job" or "but that's what they get paid for." The hidden price that these leaders pay is low morale and a reduced level of performance.

Major General Perry Smith