The chief of the Malaysian Navy, Adm. Ahmad Kamarulzaman, on regional challenges, priorities and his sea-base concept to economically expand presence. He was among the navy and coast guard leaders from more than 110 countries who attended the 22nd International Seapower Symposium at the US Naval War College, Newport, R.I., Sept. 20-23.
An arc of instability stretching across Africa’s Sahel region, an area of strategic interest for the United States and its allies, is plagued by violent extremist organizations (VEOs). These organizations, including Boko Haram, al Qaeda, and other terror groups, have metastasized and present a serious threat to regional stability. Now these VEOs are transitioning. Under sustained pressure from French and regional security forces, and reeling from the loss of senior leaders, many of these groups feel backed into a corner. Despite setbacks, the groups continue to plague the region. To enhance policymakers’ understanding of these threats and how to respond to them, CSIS experts from the Africa Program and Transnational Threats Project conducted field-based and scholarly research examining the broad range of factors at play in the region. This research provides little ground for optimism. Chronic underdevelopment, political alienation, failed governance and corruption, organized crime, and spillover from Libya help foster and sustain violent extremists throughout the Sahel.
Rob Doane, the curator of the US Naval War College Museum, on the only life mask of one of history’s greatest naval leaders, Vice Adm. Horatio Nelson, which has been on display in Newport, R.I., until Sept. 30 after which it returns to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, England.
Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, USAF Ret., the dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, on the new name for the Northrop Grumman B-21 bomber and US Air Force priorities.
The naming of any new aircraft is a big deal, and the stakes are particularly high given it happens so infrequently.
Striking the right balance among history, symbolism and menace without veering into the corny is always tough. The names of the last two bombers, the B-1 Lancer and the B-2 Spirit, weren’t exactly resounding hits.
So all eyes were on what the Air Force would name the B-21 that is under development by Northrop Grumman. Air Force Secretary Deborah James and Gen. David Golfdein, the chief of staff, picked the winner from names submitted by airman service wide.
In front of a packed auditorium at the Air Force Association’s flagship annual conference last week, the new bomber was named the Raider, in honor of Jimmy Doolittle’s daring raid on Tokyo by the last survivor of the mission and one the Air Force’s greatest living heroes, retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole.
The 101-year-old Cole, Doolittle’s copilot, said he as honored and humbled by the gesture, wishing his comrades were alive to share in the moment.
Adm. Paul Zukunft, the US Coast Guard commandant, on his recent visit to Greenland and the implications of climate change at the 22nd International Seapower Symposium at the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., a gathering of navy and coast guard leaders from more than 100 nations.
In light of a shrinking force structure and limited resources despite increasing global commitments, the report provides a range of recommendations in three distinct time horizons to help Army leaders build the next Army successfully. From the Army Today, 2016-20, the Army of Tomorrow, 2020-25, and the Army of the Day After Tomorrow, 2025-40+, Lieutenant General David Barno (Ret.) and Nora Bensahel offer fresh ideas that spark debate, challenge hoary assumptions, and animate the need for change.
In the second of a three-part exclusive interview, Michèle Flournoy, CEO of the Center for a New American Security and frontrunner to become America’s first female defense secretary if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wins the White House, discusses America’s allies, Britain’s exit from the European Union, and countering increasingly assertive Russia and China.
On Sept. 26, 1931 – First Lady Lou Hoover lays the keel of the US Navy’s first purpose-built aircraft carrier, the USS Ranger, at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Va. At the time, the Navy had three aircraft carriers, one a converted collier, the USS Langley (CV-1), and two converted battlecruisers, the USS Lexington (CV-2) and the USS Saratoga (CV-3).
Adm. John Richardson, the US chief of naval operations, on international cooperation, innovation and high-velocity learning, China and major programs at the 22nd International Seapower Symposium at the Naval War College in Newport, RI, a gathering of navy and coast guard leaders from more than 100 countries.