A Public Service Note for GOVSEC

Thanks again for your support and help spreading the word to your readers about GovSec 2011! We're gearing up for an exciting event next week and I want you to be one of the first to know about a special GovSec meet-up we're organizing on the afternoon of Thursday, March 31st.
The meet-up will take place in the back of Hall B immediately following the keynote presentation from Nicholas Stein, series producer of National Geographic Channel's hit show "Border Wars," which is from 1pm to 2pm (http://bit.ly/SteinKeynote). It will be an excellent opportunity for attendees to network with each other and continue the conversation about border protection and other security topics covered throughout the event.

Will you let your readers know about this meet-up and spread the word to your networks?  Since the Expo is free, the meet-up will be as well! We'd appreciate your help. I've included sample copy about the meet-up below, which you can use for blog posts, newsletters and/or tweets. We also have a page on twtvite with details on the meet-up, where attendees can RSVP via Twitter if they choose (although an RSVP is not required):  http://twtup.com/GovSec2011Meetup

Thanks, Mike! Please let me know if you are planning to attend GovSec next week and how we can help your efforts sharing this with your readers.
Best,

Tanya Stanfield
GovSec 2011 Team/Tuvel Communications
GovSec is a client of Tuvel Communications

Good writing

"The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way."

Richard Harding Davis

Photo is by Little Booby.
               

Thought Leadership

Rear Admiral Bill Leigher has provided some much needed and highly visible cryptologic community "thought leadership" in his USNI Proceedings article Learning to Operate in Cyberspace.  This same type of "thought leadership" is being provided behind a firewall for members of the cryptologic community with the wherewithal and security clearance credentials to seek it.  Those with a genuine "need to know" can check out the Admiral's blog post on SIPRNET at http://www.fleetforces.navy.smil.mil/registration/default.aspx.  I expect we'll hear more and more from the Admiral as the re-emergence of naval cryptology suggested by the Chief of Naval Operations in his congressional testimony, speeches, POM submission and CNO guidance becomes more evident.

When I am talking about a thought leader, I am using Jean Van Rennselar's four key descriptors:

• A thought leader is a verifiable expert, not a rogue commentator.
• A thought leader is a creative pragmatist, not necessarily a visionary.
• A thought leader is, not just willing, but eager to give information away.
• A thought leader is motivated by generosity, not self-interest.

You have to give Rear Admiral Leigher an upcheck on all four criteria.

Authority, Responsibility, and Accountability

Any questions?  Go HERE.  And thank you Admiral John Harvey, Commander, Fleet Forces Command for answering the question.

Hat tip to LCDR Andy Newsome, the Information Warfare Officer Community Manager.

Not a happy day in the Information Dominance Corps

Information Dominance Leadership Notes

March 6, 2011

By Dan Lawrence  

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS WEBSITE

VADM Dorsett made the following announcement as part of an e-mail to his senior staff on Thursday March 3 and we thought it would be of interest to the NIP membership:

---

Separately, and speaking of time, let me take this opportunity to inform you all of my intent to retire from the Navy. It’s time. I plan to depart in early June 2011 after 33 years in the Navy … and three very exciting years on the OPNAV staff. 

Please allow me to acknowledge my deep appreciation for all your contributions towards the Navy’s mission. It’s been a thrill to work with you…and I look forward to continuing our work together over the next three months. You can all be very proud that you’ve been at the fore of a very impressive transformation of the U.S. Navy. I thank you for your steadfast devotion and most impressive achievements. Keep the press on in the months and years ahead…your work is inspirational.

For those who might be interested, I expect my relief to be named in the weeks ahead.

And for those who think I’m gonna relax…I still have my running shoes on…there’s much left to be done in my time remaining!

VR Jack Dorsett, VADM, USN

Retain our prestige

"If we are to retain our prestige; if we are to keep our place as one of the great custodians of civilization; if we are to preserve the heritage of our freedom and our institutions and transmit that heritage unsullied to our descendants; if we are to guard our families and our firesides; let us keep in our hands the power that God has given us, and renounce once and forever the sophistries of the Delilahs of pacifism, that would shear the Navy of its strength."

Captain Luke McNamee
Director of Naval Intelligence, 1923

Saying "No" - Maybe you meant to say "Yes"

As an officer, you are a person in authority.  Many questions will come to you for decision.  The choice you make in the mere saying of "Yes" or "No" may constitute the measure of your success.  A weak man will say "Yes" when it takes courage to say "No", thus sometimes destroying policies which may have been wisely conceived.  Or an unwise man may say "No" when he should say "Yes", and by obstruction destroy the morale of an entire group of men.  It takes a happy combination of courage and wisdom to say "No" at the right time and in the right place.  Small as the word may be, it will have a profound effect upon the success of any person who is placed in authority.

The manner of expression, also, is important.  Some officers have the happy faculty of refusing a request without causing resentment or unhappiness.  For others, the opposite is true.  Some cannot help being disagreeable about a refusal and thus cause resentment.  Many years ago a staff officer observed that, while the Admiral disapproved many requests which reached him, nearly all officers who left his cabin were in good humor.  The staff officer asked the Admiral what method he used.  The Admiral replied,

"I have mediated long and hard on the importance of saying 'no'.  There are different ways of saying it.  I can think of it as one word, or 25 words or 500 words.  The one-word 'No' is for the multitude of small decisions , impersonal in nature, which you continually bring to my desk.  The 25-word 'No' is for disapproving a request or recommendation made by a valued subordinate who needs to know something of my reasons, so that he will not be deterred from making further suggestions.  I save the 500-word 'No' for disapproval of those occasional embarrassing demands which reach me from Big-and-Little Potentates and Grand Pooh-bahs, whose fleeting positions of importance make it inadvisable for me to antagonize them by denying requests which my conscience tells me not to grant.  In this way, I try to solve the wounds of those who depart without achieving their ends.  But there is the interesting dividend which, surprisingly, accrues from this method-by forcing myself to present sound and acceptable reasons for each refusal, I often discover that, after all, the correct answer is 'Yes'."

The Naval Officer's Manual

July 1951

Rear Admiral Harley Cope, USN - retired

"NO" - maybe it's another way to say "Yes".

 

Honor

An officer must observe honor in all things, as a matter of everlasting practice.  Officers will be respected, individually and as a group, only as long as citizens have complete confidence in their unfailing honor.

An officer's word may be accepted without question; his spoken and written statements are free from guile or deceit.  He pays his bills.  He is above the petty chicaneries to which some people succumb.  His actions are for the good of his country.  As he guards his own reputation, he is also mindful of the reputations of officers as a group.  That reputation is something he must always jealously guard.  He is expected to live and conduct his activities so that he can hold up his head and look all men in the eye, knowing that he is an honorable man associating himself with other honorable men.

From:
The Naval Officer's Manual
July 1951
Rear Admiral Harley Cope
USN - retired

Seth Godin's Seven Questions For Leaders

1. Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story?
2. What do you do with people who disagree with you... do you call them names in order to shut them down?
3. Are you open to multiple points of view or you demand compliance and uniformity? [Bonus: Are you willing to walk away from a project or customer or employee who has values that don't match yours?]
4. Is it okay if someone else gets the credit?
5. How often are you able to change your position?
6. Do you have a goal that can be reached in multiple ways?
7. If someone else can get us there faster, are you willing to let them?

No textbook answers... It's easy to get tripped up by these. In fact, most leaders I know do.

 

More from Seth Godin HERE.

Number ONE Habit of Successful Information Warfare Officer Leaders

1. They lead.

Not a good writer

"I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter."

— James Michener

For Our Many Friends in Japan

You can donate to the Japanese Red Cross HERE.  It is far more efficient than donating to the American Red Cross and hoping your donation finds its way to Japan.

Writing

"Writing is an act of hope. It means carving order out of chaos, of challenging one’s own beliefs and assumptions, of facing the world with eyes and heart wide open. Through writing we declare a personal identity amid faceless anonymity. We find purpose and beauty and meaning even when the rational mind argues that none of these exist.  

Writing therefore, is also an act of courage. How much easier is it to lead an unexamined life than to confront yourself on the page?"

— Jack Heffron (from “The Writer’s Idea Book”)

Navy Lessons Learned

We in the Navy have one of the most comprehesive "lessons learned" databases in the Department of Defense.  And, in reviewing those lessons learned, I believe there are few lessons that we have actually learned.  Our knowledge management processes are woefully inadequate to actually putting our lessons learned to good use.  We relearn lessons every day.  Sometimes at great expense.

Captain
Navy Warfare Development Command

Learn more HERE.

The American's Creed

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign nation of many sovereign states; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity, for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it, to support its constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its Flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

William Tyler Page
(From the Boy Scout handbook)