Vice Admiral Gunn, Vice Admiral Route, Rear Admiral Harley, and Dr. McGrady - thank you

Transcription

1 Remarks Prepared for the Honorable Richard V. Spencer Secretary of the Navy Naval War College/Naval Postgraduate School Annual Board Meeting Dinner Arlington, VA 18 October 2017 Vice Admiral Gunn, Vice Admiral Route, Rear Admiral Harley, and Dr. McGrady - thank you for the invitation to join you here tonight. What a great opportunity to engage with the academic side of the Department of the Navy to share my priorities and thoughts but most importantly, to hear from you. I am especially glad to be talking to you because I know the importance of the War College and the Postgraduate School not just to the Navy and Marine Corps, but to the other services and the government. You have at your schools the leaders I want to target with my message - my priorities are people, capabilities and processes. In all three priorities, your schools also play a big role towards success! It goes without saying, but I ll say it anyways: People are our greatest assets - Period. The leadership they exhibit, the brainpower they bring to bear on our challenges everything we do as a Navy and Marine Corps is only possible because of the people we have. The scholarship produced at your schools also helps us to better take care of our people. As you all know, research done at NPS is being used to develop better rest and watch rotations in the Fleet. It s that kind of thinking and research that we need more of, and it s your schools that are getting it done. The War College and Postgraduate School are critical in retaining, educating, and 1

2 developing the talent we have - we have some of the smartest people in government and the War College and NPS play a critical role in retaining and honing that manpower. We must remain focused on our science, technology, engineering and mathematical core curriculums - those are our strong suite and that is what we should nurture and grow. In educating our people, you are also enhancing the capabilities we need. The research being done at the War College and the Postgraduate School has immediate application today, in the Fleet. From the railgun, to drones, and power solutions - your schools have been critical in improving our capabilities and increasing readiness and lethality. Having those junior officers coming in, with the pulse of what the Fleet needs and then matching that up with the expertise of their instructors is huge advantage. That in-house research and development and the applicability of that R&D to the Fleet is a competitive advantage that no other institutions can match. That s why even the Army and the Air Force send their students to our schools at such a high rate. It s why the Department of Homeland Security sends us their people. Your schools have a proven track record of usefulness to the Nation. But as much work as is being done, I feel more can be done. We need to glean more from industry, and analyze lessons learned, procedure adaptions, portfolio management, and risk assessment, to align and streamline efforts and maximize efficiencies. 2

3 It s in creating efficiencies and establishing collaboration that our need to reform our processes will pay off. I may mention processes last, but it really is the cornerstone of developing and getting best use from our capabilities as well as developing and taking care of our people. Analyzing and reforming our processes is where the academic firepower of the War College and the Postgraduate School can really pay out. You have a lot of grey matter both on faculty and in your student body - a renewed and increased focus on how the Navy and Marine Corps do business will help us maximize use of taxpayer dollars and once again increase lethality and readiness in order to provide our warfighters the ability to deliver the fight anywhere, anytime. It s in the application of that readiness and lethality that we receive a sometimes overlooked contribution from the Naval War College and NPS - your work produced in the field of national security. Ladies and gents, we are a warfighting organization. It isn t all dollars and cents, or the latest technological breakthrough - we also have to have the strategic thought to guide the application of our capabilities. Make no mistake, the War College and the Postgraduate School will never be liberal art institutions. Government academia needs to be independent, but responsive to needs of government. Of course, there is academic freedom, but the government expects, moreover has a right to expect, a return on the investments we make in our academic institutions and the officers and civilians we send there. 3

4 The beauty of having the War College and the Postgraduate school is that we can, and have, tailored the programs to the needs of the Navy and Marines Corps. The Postgraduate School s business programs are centered on how the Navy-Marine Corps team can do business and operate more effectively and efficiently. I know that we will continue to produce thought provoking scholarship that will guide military and civilian policy into the future, but we need to ensure that students are guided and directed towards subjects of relevance and timely value to the government. In the development of that value to the government and the taxpayers, the relationship between academia, government and industry needs to be carefully fostered. Of course we have to be aware of ethical and legal limits but both government and academia can learn from the experiences in industry - especially the challenges encountered by private industry and how they implement those solutions. Your institutions can help us leverage those lessons learned. I m doing exactly that with my Strategic Readiness Review - I ve asked industry: BP America, Boeing, Maersk, the Mayo Clinic, Crowley Maritime, Delta Airlines to name a few for their help and to share their experiences on improving safety, especially in light of the recent collisions we ve had. Every single company has practically fallen over themselves to give us the help we need. They re eager to help. Let s let them - please encourage your faculty and students to engage outside their academic environment to challenge themselves. 4

5 The future is very bright for both the Naval War College and NPS. I am especially looking forward to taking a trip up to Newport and out to Monterey to talk to the faculties and the student body - to give them a message similar to the one I gave you tonight. Please know that I am very proud that the work that you and your schools do - proud to have these premier institutions in the Navy/Marine Corps family. I look forward to working with all of you to ensure that the Naval War College and the Naval Postgraduate School remain the United States governments preeminent postgraduate academic institutions. Please encourage the faculties and students to keep up the press, to maintain the academic rigor your schools are known for to keep bringing their best ideas forward. Thank you and I d like to open up the floor to your thoughts or questions. 5