The winning essays of the Arleigh Burke Essay Contest, sponsored by a grant from Northrop Grumman, are published in this issue. This longest-running of the Naval Institute’s essay contest, launched in 1879 as the General Prize Essay Contest, has had many distinguished winners—including Cdr. A. T. Mahan (1879), Lt. Charles Belknap (1880), Lt. E. L. Beach (1903), RAdm. Stephen B. Luce (1905), Cdr. Bradley Fiske (1907), Lt. Ernest J. King (1909), LCdr. J. K. Taussig (1916), Capt. Dudley Knox (1929), Samuel S. Stratton (1952), Cdr. J. C. Wylie (1953), Capt. James A. Winnefeld (1971), LCdr. Phil A. Dur (1974), Capt. Wayne Hughes Jr. (1981), LCdr. James Stavridis (1984), Capt. Linton Brooks (1987), Ronald O’Rourke (1988), Cdr. James Winnefeld (1994), Lt. David Adams (1997), Lt. Tom Williams (2000), Cdr. Sheila A. Scarborough (2001), Lt. Kenneth Harbaugh (2001), and Cdr. Kevin S. J. Eyer (2003).
The winners this year demonstrate the power and breadth of the Naval Institute’s open forum, each addressing a different issue and challenging the reader and the profession of arms to think on—and in some cases rethink—some basic principles and ideas. Captain Randy Bowdish speaks to the heart of the open forum and free speech. He adds valuable perspective on the issue of anonymity, pointing out that it is a constitutional right, and makes some recommendations, including limiting the number of articles written by senior officers and government officials.
Captain Bowdish is not alone in raising concerns about restrictions to free speech and the vigor of the open forum. Also in this issue, Lieutenant Ken Harbaugh, a 2001 prize winner in the Arleigh Burke Essay Contest, describes how he had to fight the system to carry the Navy’s good story to the public it serves (“Transforming the Civil-Military Divide,” pp. 46-47).
Admiral Carlisle A. H. Trost—former Chief of Naval Operations and former President of the Naval Institute—spoke about the open forum at this year’s 130th Annual Meeting. Accepting Golden Life Membership status for himself and 116 other members who marked 50 consecutive years of membership, Admiral Trost said:
Naval Institute and benefited from many years of profitable discussion of subjects of interest to people in the military and naval service, both here in the United States and abroad. I found the Naval Institute a very valuable source of books of professional interest.
The one thing I really treasured over those years was the fact that it is an open forum that permits free discussion. I emphasize that because I think that’s the real value of the organization. It permits discussion of topics that are not popular, are not politically correct necessarily, and are not always well received. . . . There were times when there were efforts to tamp this down. There have been times in our past . . . when there were those who wanted to eliminate open discussion. The way to do that is to hold the commanding officer of an individual responsible for what he writes. If that individual writes something that displeases people in senior levels of authority, that commanding officer suffers. Great idea, right? That really promotes discussion!
There have been efforts to censor what the Naval Institute publishes. Gratefully, the Editorial Board has seen fit to publish items of controversy that lend value to this entire idea of open discussion and open forum of ideas of interest, controversial though they may be. I hope the folks under General Wilkerson, the professional staff, keep this foremost in mind. I hope the Editorial Board members never forget their responsibility. . . . [W]e stand for something that must be preserved, because organizations that are afraid to entertain new ideas stagnate rather rapidly.
The Naval Institute provides the forum. Still, we can publish only what is written and submitted. We can encourage individuals to write, but we cannot—would not—force anyone to write. These pages are open, and the staff is ready to work with those who care and dare to engage.