What we need is an expansion, not a homeward relocation, of reliable health care supply chains, including a focus on the critical elements of the lower tiers of the industrial base. Why spend scarce federal resources on moving home existing facilities businesses in a manner that maintains the supply and demand status quo rather than adding facilities that will expand the overall supply of needed items?
As the USS Theodore Roosevelt saga winds down, the incentive to get back to “business as usual basis” builds. Were that to happen, it would be a colossal error.
The TR incident comes in the wake of too many seeming errors, mistakes and scandals that have befallen the Navy. These demand that crucial questions must now be addressed about the overall condition of the Navy that have led to what some including the president and the secretary of Defense believe is a service that is badly adrift.
Fortunately, the relatively new Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday, has not been tainted by any of the scandals or problems and therefore is the right person at the right time to dig more deeply into resolving these symptoms of naval ill-health.
It is in this spirit that the U.S. Navy should immediately reinstate Captain Crozier as USS Theodore Roosevelt’s commanding officer, a possibility left open by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday.
The urgent coronavirus crisis has not eclipsed pre-existing strategic conundrums like Russian threats to Europe and NATO and the urgency of adapting the alliance to meet them. Moscow shows no sign of negotiating on Ukraine or reducing its information warfare and other threats to European security, quite the opposite.
Former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld famously said you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want. Fortunately, the army we have is ready to go to war against a new enemy: the rapidly spreading coronavirus that poses a grave danger to our neighbors in all 50 states.
If the last week of social distancing and routine change have taught me anything, it’s that Adams, Kennedy and Churchill were dead-on. With the right mindset and willingness to take and give critical feedback, ample opportunity to learn and improve lies within this crisis.
Today, NATO advertises itself under version 3.0 — a forward-looking orientation to renewing the strength and readiness of its forces while addressing emerging challenges that confront the Alliance. If versions one and two addressed Cold War challenges and out-of-area operations, this third incarnation reinforces the solidarity of the Alliance through increased readiness, strengthened capabilities and credible deterrence to face new challenges. The Allies are engaging in new domains (space and cyber), reinvigorating the command structure and the political controls governing it, recognizing new competitors (China) and facing old adversaries (Russia) with firmness and resolve. There is much to be optimistic about in NATO’s agenda.
By Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, USN Ret.
The US Navy is at the beginning of designing and building its future surface combatant force. This is more than simply replacing old ships with new ones, more than just fielding platforms with upgraded sensors and weapons. It is an opportunity to introduce proven, industry-best practices to create a foundation for sailors to excel.
In designing the next surface combatant, the Navy must always keep warfighting first, but also consider total-ownership cost savings, maintainability, and human-factors engineering to ensure sustainable operational effectiveness and safety. Additionally, new ships must be ready to operate in today’s environment of cyber threats. Warfighting relevance will depend on the ability to fight through strong cyber attacks.
To avoid another fiscal crisis, we need a bipartisan deal to raise Budget Control Act (BCA) discretionary caps and the nation’s debt ceiling. While budget deals are best done behind closed doors, the lack of any apparent progress on this front is troubling.