Col. James “Hondo” Geurts, USAF Ret., assistant secretary of the US Navy for research, development and acquisition, says focusing on “delivering lethal capacity,” using “alternate acquisition processes” to boost agility, driving cost out of systems, and attracting and empowering “next-generation talent” are key to the Navy and Marine Corps delivering on the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy during a Feb. 8, 2018, address at the AFCEA International/USNI WEST 2018 Conference in San Diego. Our coverage is sponsored by Leonardo DRS.

Adm. Scott Swift, USN, commander, US Pacific Fleet, discusses the US Navy’s role in the National Defense and Security Strategies, manpower, culture, gray-zone warfare, strategic deterrence, learning from accidents, innovation and more during a wide-ranging, February 2018 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the AFCEA International/USNI WEST 2018 conference in San Diego. Our coverage is sponsored by Leonardo DRS.

Adm. James Stavridis, PhD, USN Ret., chairman of the US Naval Institute, dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, calls President Donald Trump’s proposed “bloody nose” strategy “a terrible idea” because it would trigger uncontrollable “impulse escalation” from Pyongyang and the “escalatory response” North Korean attacks would demand of the US would almost definitely lead “to a war that would kill two-to-four million people in the Korean Peninsula” during a wide-ranging, February 2018 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the 2017 AFCEA/USNI WEST Conference in San Diego. Stavridis also advocates for four-party talks between the US, China, North Korea and South Korea, grades the Trump administration’s first year in foreign and defense policy, discusses recent US Navy accidents, and says a Washington military parade isn’t logistically, politically or fiscally advisable. Our WEST conference coverage is sponsored by Leonardo DRS.