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As we celebrate the Navy’s 237th birthday this month, we take time to reflect on our great maritime history and take pride in the fact that we field a Navy second to none. The next logical step is to examine how we can keep our edge as we move forward.
We think about that a lot here at Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC). Concept Generation/Concept Development is part of our mandate. Fleet Experimentation, Lessons Learned and Doctrine development link with that.
The CNO, in his “Sailing Directions,” states:
We will innovate to:
· Use new technologies and operating concepts to sharpen our warfighting advantage against evolving threats;
· Operate forward at strategic maritime crossroads;
· Sustain our fleet capability through effective maintenance, timely modernization, and sustained production of proven ships and aircraft;
· Provide our Sailors the confidence in their equipment and in their own skills.
Naval innovation does not have to be the next generation weapons system, or UAV, or power source. An innovation can, as the CNO notes, be a deckplate Sailor applying a new way to maintain a piece of equipment, or a junior supply officer implementing a more efficient supply chain idea. As I commented in a Navy Live blog in June, “Naval Innovation Reboot,” the future we seek for tomorrow will depend on how we harness our creative activities today. Building a streamlined process to drive innovation from the deckplates is a key enabler.
Since that blog was published, NWDC has rolled out the ‘Navy Center for Innovation,’ which is focused on creating channels for ideas to flow from the deckplates to senior leadership in a shorter timeframe. It’s starting to take hold – even faster than I imagined.
For example, at the “Pacific Rim Innovation Symposium” held in San Diego and over Defense Connect Online on 10-11 OCT 2012, for E-5 to O-5 junior leaders, attendees were asked to work on three challenges facing warfighters in the Pacific Fleet.
Prior to the workshops, Admiral Haney, commander, Pacific Fleet, set the tone during his opening remarks challenging the group to “huddle together and ask each other what are the problems you are facing and what approaches can we bring forward...and start writing about it...do that brain thought in groups. Have a questioning attitude...and not just think this is [broken], but look for solutions.”
The junior leaders took this advice to heart and worked together addressing these issues. They were thoughtful in their approach, really listened to each other and challenged their own pre-conceived ideas. Several ideas generated by the group will be examined by our concepts team for possible applicability. I personally carried one idea home with me that I’m going to push forward.
Other signs the campaign is taking hold include:
· The CNO endorsed a new quick reaction Concept Generation/Concept Development process that takes the bureaucracy out of the system and gives junior leaders a safe haven at NWDC to cultivate ideas.
· More than 400 motivated junior leaders attended our Junior Leader Innovation Symposium in June and we continue to work with a number of them as our “advisors” to keep our campaign focused on that generation’s unique skills and challenges.
· Our concepts harvesting team now receives an average of two new ideas per week, compared to two per month in June, and about one every six to nine months prior to that.
· The Navy Center for Innovation blog launched two months ago is gaining traction, and junior leaders have asked us for a SIPRNET version which we will launch soon as a channel for “crowd sourcing” new ideas in a classified environment.
· Recently, a senior business leader told me our “Innovator’s Guide” is now required reading at his company.
The momentum is building, but we understand that this is a marathon and not a sprint. I continue to ask for your help in clearing the path to innovation in your own commands, encouraging your disruptive thinkers, and getting involved in our innovation campaign. |
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A little over a year ago, Navy Warfare Development Command’s (NWDC) Information Dominance directorate started reviewing the organizational construct and responsibilities of the Information Operations Warfare Commander (IWC), as well as how information operations (IO) are being integrated and tasked at the operational level of war. I know that when I was a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) Commander, IO at the operational level of war was not planned and executed to support combatant commander requirements, theater engagement plans, or existing theater IO programs. If it had, we would have received clear and executable tasks supporting the overall theater campaign plan. The lack of a standardized IWC construct also meant we were effectively playing a pick-up game when it came to IO.
From briefings with senior leaders, prospective CSG commanders, Navy Cyber Forces and the Commander of 10th Fleet, it became clear that the lack of organizational structure, training, and billet qualification for information operations is hampering the Navy’s contribution to a Joint Force Commander.
Further exacerbating the problem, too many Sailors still use outdated IO terminology because they are unaware of revised IO policy and doctrine.
In a Memorandum dated 25 JAN 2011, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote:
The [Under Secretary of Defense for Policy] and the [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] will revise the relevant policy and doctrine documents to reflect a new definition of information operations that focuses on the integrating nature of IO.
The new definition will be the “integrated employment, during military operations, of information-related capabilities in concert with other lines of operation to disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision-making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting our own.”
The change was made because the previous definition lacked “reference to the information environment and placed too much emphasis on the core capabilities.” This “led to an excessive focus on the capabilities and confused the distinction between [individual information-related capabilities (IRC’s)] and IO as an integrating staff function.” Successful IO at all levels of war “requires the identification of information-related capabilities most likely to achieve desired effects and not simply the employment of a capability.”
Modifying the definition clearly implied “a needed change to the existing notion that the core capabilities must be overseen by one entity.” Each IRC – electronic warfare (EW), cyberspace operations (CO), operational security (OPSEC), military deception (MILDEC), and military information support operations (MISO) – have their own policy, authority and funding. IO is the integration of these and other IRCs to achieve desired effects.
As such, IO is a planning function which resides at the strategic, operational, and tactical level. Furthermore, IO is not a plan in isolation; it is a planning process which must be integrated in accordance with the Joint Operation Planning Process.
I also still hear senior officers and Sailors alike misusing the terms “IW” and “ID.” IW is defined in JP 1-02 as “irregular warfare”, not “information warfare.” Additionally, Information Dominance, or what some people refer to as ID, has not yet been formally defined, so using it to describe an operational condition conflicts with existing joint policy, doctrine, and authority.
We need to continue the dialogue to ensure IO is properly manned, trained, qualified, and understood in order to support planning at the operational and tactical levels. While the Information Dominance Corps (IDC) is key to this effort, information operations must be embraced by all fleet operators to ensure successful support to a Joint Force Commander in what is becoming an increasingly challenging fight within the information environment. |
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One of my greatest satisfactions I get out of our work here at Navy Warfare Development Command is when we look at lessons learned and identify ways to enhance the daily well-being of the Sailors and Marines deployed on our ships.
A particular gap we identified was the need for more mental health capabilities at sea. To that end, we partnered with the Fleet and Navy Medicine by elevating findings from a lessons learned active collection to support increased mental health services for our Sailors and Marines.
Longer deployments in combat zones are taking a toll on our personnel. We read the heart-wrenching stories and statistics regularly. All of the services are implementing aggressive programs to identify and treat those suffering mental health issues – and prevent problems before they start.
An Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have more than 4,000 Sailors and Marines embarked aboard three ships. Many of these Sailors and Marines are combat veterans or have faced other stressful circumstances that weigh on them during extended absences from family. During the course of a deployment, some Sailors and Marines will experience mental health problems and seek medical attention. Unlike a Carrier Strike Group, the medical capability that deploys in support of an ARG/MEU does not include a mental health provider. During a lessons learned active collection conducted aboard BOXER ARG, it was evident that the care and well being of Sailors and Marines experiencing mental health issues was of great concern among the leadership. In fact, mental health issues were one of the top reasons for medical evacuations during deployment.
The BATAAN ARG experienced similar issues prior to embarking a mental health provider mid-deployment. The presence of a dedicated mental health provider allowed for the provision of preventive services and the professional evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of many patients at sea. As a result, medical evacuations for mental health reasons dropped significantly. This enhanced operational capability, but, more importantly, Marines and Sailors were able to receive appropriate and ongoing care while remaining forward deployed with their units.
The lessons learned and supporting data prompted a decision to embark a mental health professional in support of the IWO JIMA ARG earlier this year and a decision has been made to support mental health services on deploying ARGs in the future. This is a testament to the Navy’s process of collecting and analyzing lessons learned following deployments, teaming with other organizations to recommend solutions, and getting this information to the right decision-makers who can act on it quickly for the benefit of our Sailors and Marines. |
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When is the last time you sat down and discussed tactics? Whether it was regarding your individual DDG or employment of Air Wing strike capabilities, I bet it has been awhile. I recently discussed these issues with Junior Officers and enlisted sailors at our Junior Leaders Innovation Symposium here at NWDC, and later with Aviation Flags at our annual training symposium. In both cases, the results were the same - there is a real concern that tactics development has slid down our list of day to day priorities.
I know it was a long time ago, but as a JO, I remember having tactical discussions all the time. What’s the best way to do X? Did we consider Y? Have you seen Z…? We stayed up late in wardrooms and ready rooms sharing the experiences and best practices that made us better tactical aviators. The threat and type of operations in those days drove us to discussions about tactics. We shared lessons and made near-continuous improvements to the tactics we employed, because we understood that the operational environment required us to create and maintain operational sanctuaries to mitigate the tactical risks.
LT Rob McFall wrote the following in his blog on USNI a couple of months ago, What the Professional Naval Conversation is Missing… Tactics:
The conversation on tactical innovation is especially important for the Junior Officers but it should not be limited to them. Senior Officers and those that have gone before us have a wealth of knowledge on tactics. They have been there and know where the sinkholes are. Only by learning what has been done before can we keep from making the same mistakes over again. We have the forums. Once again it is time for us to read, think, speak and write about tactics.
I couldn’t agree more with LT McFall. Not only should we get better at sharing the lessons, knowledge and tactics from our more senior officers, we have an obligation to continue to develop tactical solutions that counter the myriad of multi-faceted threats. We have lost the comfort of operating from our traditional maritime sanctuaries. Due to advances and proliferation of weapons technology, the anti-access/area denial capability of our potential adversaries has increased significantly in recent years. We need to identify our capability gaps and prioritize development of tactics that help create and maintain the sanctuaries required to mitigate risk in this new environment.
Earlier this year, Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) launched the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) Advanced Tactics Initiative – or “CATI” – to enable the rapid development of training and tactics. “CSG” includes the Carrier Strike Group staff, CVN, CVW, and DESRON elements. CATI is an integrating function designed to synchronize tactics and training development efforts with identified gaps in tactical capability. It will formalize a collection process to capture, document and pass-on CSG lessons, tactics and best practices. Aligned to the Strike Force Training Community assessment process, CATI will socialize the identification and prioritization of emerging CSG employment gaps. Another key element of CATI is the new interactive NWDC CATI SharePoint tool that provides access to developmental projects, operational guidance documents and tactical material while enabling an ongoing discussion of ideas and best practices. It's all about preparing ourselves, again, to be challenged at sea.
Tactics development has played a major part in the Navy and Marine Corps’ capability to fight and win wars in the past. We intend to breathe new life into tactical discussions to effectively counter future threats and leverage tactical innovation. Tactics are back – jump in and join the conversation! |
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The Chief of Naval Operation’s (CNO) Navigation Plan calls for us to “sustain Fleet Synthetic Training (FST) to provide a wider range of complex and demanding simulations than possible in the field, while conserving operating expenses where appropriate.”
This certainly fits with our current efforts at Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) to increase synthetic training opportunities for the Fleet.
Today, for example, the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE) is used by the Tactical Training Groups to certify Carrier Strike Groups and Expeditionary Strike Groups using FST, allowing commanders to tailor events ashore and at sea. This and similar synthetic training are now fairly standard. We do it almost every day – as evidenced by the fact that the NCTE network will be used for more than 330 training events this year.
Our scalable architecture also supports large-scale, multinational exercises without sacrificing tactical realism. Think Talisman Sabre and Bold Alligator. All very important, but in some ways it’s just blocking and tackling.
As we press forward, we need the ability to train the Fleet to operate in an anti-access/area denial environment. Long-range threats and sensors complicate our operations and should be part of our tactical considerations. Here are a few things we are working on at NWDC to train the Fleet for high-end warfighting in more complex environments through FST:
- Bringing synthetic unmanned aerial vehicle full-motion video and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance feeds to the ships that can operationally receive it.
- Adding tactical level representation of assets not organic to the Strike Group, like riverine operations.
- Modeling opposing forces’ cyber and sensor capabilities as well as U.S. Navy counters.
- Supporting Ballistic Missile Defense training while deployed.
- Improving atmospheric propagation models through our partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School’s Modeling, Virtual Environment and Simulation (MOVES) Institute.
Clearly, FST and the NCTE will never completely replace some at-sea training requirements, but current and near-term future technology will help us move simulated training “Forward…for the Fleet." |
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Thinking about Naval innovation conjures up technological transformations such as shifting from sail to steam, the birth of the aircraft carrier, nuclear powered submarines, and unmanned vehicles. These forward-looking innovations prepared us for the next fight and to continue to dominate our enemies from the sea. But our adversaries are not static. They perpetually seek creative advantages that could threaten our leading edge, deny our access, and challenge us at sea. How are we preparing the warfighter for the next war?
We are witnessing an era of explosive leaps in the formulation of new ideas and opportunities. The speed and reach of information systems are transforming many dimensions of war. The internet and social networks are connecting previously distinct ideas and fusing them into reality at an astonishing rate. Yet despite this dynamic environment, much of the Navy remains shackled to cumbersome processes and linear thinking. In order to exploit this rich atmosphere of ideas, we must energize and capitalize on the enterprising nature and resourcefulness of our maritime professionals.
To that end, senior military leaders, academic experts and industry representatives gathered in March in Norfolk, Virginia, and over Defense Connect Online (DCO) to discuss the state of innovation in our maritime forces and begin a larger campaign to overcome barriers and create the conditions for an innovative culture.
Admiral Harvey, Commander, US Fleet Forces, made his views clear.
“Most of what I have seen in my years in the Navy has been activity driven, not purpose driven. The organizations and processes we use are purposefully designed to maintain course and speed – not to allow significant change…Our choice is simple. We can either innovate today, or be forced to rapidly adapt in the middle of conflict.”
Three themes emerged that we are focusing on at Navy Warfare Development Command as we lead the effort to regain our innovation culture: 1) identifying conditions conducive to innovation, 2) defining the type of problems that need to be addressed, and 3) developing channels for a free-flow of innovative ideas and concepts.
Creating a culture of innovation will require overcoming some of our inherent challenges, such as the bureaucracy in which we operate, a “middle-management” that is risk-adverse and pre-disposed to protect the programs over which they have jurisdiction, and not permitting a certain amount of failure that is necessary in an innovative culture. NWDC is working to conquer these challenges.
Part of defining the playing field demands that we clearly understand the issues we face. Albert Einstein said; “If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes finding solutions.” In defining what we need, the pattern today is to default to things – weapons systems and other material items that can help us win in the future. It is essential to recognize that innovation is much more than technical – it involves broadly questioning and deeply thinking about challenges at sea and how our Navy should be organized and operate in future environments. In doing so, we will need to look across multiple venues and domains to help create the conditions for our success.
Our young enlisted Sailors and officers are naturally more risk-tolerant, technologically savvy and open to new ways of doing things than their more senior counterparts, making them more suited to embracing and adopting innovative ideas and solutions. In short, they aren’t yet part of problem.
To start to engage our junior leaders, NWDC is hosting a “Junior Leader Innovation Symposium” on June 6, 2012, to educate these leaders on the importance of innovation, empower them to contribute new ideas, facilitate connected discussion and start to harvest their ideas. What we hope will emerge is an important channel to bring their ideas forward to senior leadership.
The event will be broadcast live through DCO to encourage wider attendance and the NWDC Facebook page will help establish early collaboration efforts between these leaders.
In the end, the future we seek for tomorrow will depend on how we harness our creative activities today. Building a streamlined process to drive innovation from the deckplates is a key enabler. As was so clearly demonstrated during our history, visionary leadership, combined with a keen desire to harness the energies of the Fleet, will ensure we build a Navy ready for future challenges at sea.
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Our Navy is blessed with a history of creativity and adaptability. It’s in our DNA. Every day our officers and Sailors tackle diverse and complex challenges and we take justifiable pride in on our ability to flex and adapt. But that doesn’t imply that we always “make it up as we go along.” We are a storied, professional institution with a rich heritage, and like all such institutions, we take the time to write down what we know. Looking at our history, the period before WWII was particularly productive. Despite fiscal challenges, naval leaders developed critical doctrine which enabled amphibious warfare, independent carrier operations and a logistics capability which spanned the pacific.
One definition of doctrine is “institutional wisdom that relates to the operational and tactical employment of forces to achieve commander’s objectives.” That’s important stuff. Doctrine matters. Creating and maintaining thoughtful, forward-leaning doctrine and tactics isn’t trivial work. But we owe it to ourselves, to the institution, and to those who follow us.
Facilitating doctrine development - in partnership with SME commands – is a core responsibility here at the Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC). And it’s one we take very seriously because we are convinced of its critical importance. But we also realize that that is only half the job. We need to serve our customers – the Fleet – with the most state-of-the-art, relevant content, delivered when, where and how they need it. We hear you, and we are making this happen.
The first task was to make the information easily accessible. The Navy Doctrine Library System (NDLS) web sites on SIPERNET and NIPRNET are essentially the Navy’s online repository of doctrine and tactics. Every publication can be downloaded as a PDF. Recent upgrades include the creation of “electronic bookshelves” which are user-created ready reference libraries on specific topics, such as amphibious warfare, ballistic missile defense, and other mission areas. Think Navy iPad bookshelf app. These bookshelves can easily be emailed and accessed by others. During BOLD ALLIGATOR 12 execution at NWDC, we built a bookshelf with supporting documentation specifically for the exercise. Very popular.
Secondly, we’re organizing the content into a streamlined hierarchy of publications that meet the needs of operators and the training and education communities. Out of date pubs are being culled and where it makes sense, some publications will be consolidated to make information easier to find. We are also getting rid of aged TACMEMOs. As a form of test doctrine, TACMEMOs should be transitory products that either become a new, authoritative publication, or be moved to an existing one. Too often, however, TACMEMOs linger well beyond their viable shelf life because validation and transition to permanence doesn’t happen. We are working hard with the organizations that produce these documents to ensure that valid TACMEMO content migrates to formal doctrine and TTP.
Those who use NDLS on a regular basis will notice some subtle and not so subtle changes to functionality over the next months, too. CAC log-on is coming, site navigations will be more in line with mainstream, public information portals, and server upgrades will substantially improve system reliability and download times for ashore users.
The NIPRNET and SIPRNET limitations ships face are well known and appreciated. Distribution of doctrine via portable, read-only media like DVD-ROM is one solution, but beyond the security risks of doing that, it also doesn’t solve the basic problem of how to make the latest content accessible where it’s needed. The solution is Collaboration at Sea (CaS) portal for pushing Navy doctrine to forces afloat. Operationally relevant publications will be uploaded to CaS during the next few months, and when it’s complete, the CaS site will essentially eliminate once and for all the need for shipboard users to manually maintain local copies of most of the doctrine that it requires.
We are also planning for the Navy’s eventual adoption of mobile technology in terms of delivering doctrinal and tactical content – literally placing doctrine in the hands of users as soon as the Navy acquires the capability to do so.
NWDC may be the Navy’s lead for developing and distributing Navy doctrine, but we are acutely aware of who our customers are. The goal is to get you the tactical, operational and strategic information you need, when and where you need it. We want your ideas and feedback as we move “Forward…for the Fleet”. |
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