The Naval Institute and our partner, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), are proud to announce the next segment in our ongoing Maritime Security Dialogue Series. The Sea Service Chiefs will roll out the revised maritime strategy, “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower: Forward, Engaged, Ready,” at 1130 on 13 March at CSIS. This is a terrific opportunity to hear Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph Dunford Jr., and Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft discuss the revised strategy, understand their thought processes firsthand, and ask questions. Register online at our conference page. The Institute will publish the maritime strategy in the April Proceedings.
Please save the date for our Annual Meeting, to be held the afternoon of 22 April at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. We will have a featured speaker and a report on the state of the Institute. We will also recognize the winners of the General Prize Essay Contest, as well as the Proceedings, Naval History, and Naval Institute Press Authors of the Year. After the Annual Meeting, we will have a Member reception, and we hope you will stay to meet and talk with our award winners, authors, other Members, and Naval Institute staff. Get more details and sign up at www.usni.org/annualmeeting.
In this, our 34th year of the International Navies issue of Proceedings, we are pleased to announce the International Navies Essay Contest. This opportunity is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Finmeccanica NA—DRS Technologies. For details about this challenge to offer technological developments in naval warfare and/or new strategies to build creative relationships between defense and commercial industries to serve naval forces better, see the ad on page 91.
Last year, Finmeccanica NA—DRS Technologies sponsored the Global Defense Burden Essay Contest. Proceedings published the winning essay, “Cooperation is the Key to NATO’s Future,” in the September 2014 issue. The author, Lieutenant (junior grade) Chris Pagenkopf, was recognized at the WEST 2015 Award Program on 10 February in San Diego. Mr. Patrick Marion, Finmeccanica NA’s Vice President and General Manager of Maritime Systems and Services, and I presented Lieutenant Pagenkopf his award.
For the second consecutive year, the William M. Wood Foundation is underwriting a Naval Institute essay contest in conjunction with sponsorship of a naval history conference: “Marine Corps Actions Shaping History.” The conference will be held at the U.S. Naval Academy on 14 October. The winning essay will be published in the November-December issue of Naval History. All the winners will be recognized at the conference. For details about the Naval History Essay Contest, see the ad on page 15 or visit www.usni.org/nhessay.
The 10-12 February WEST 2015 conference at the San Diego Convention Center was an outstanding success in every respect, from Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work’s engaging and timely opening keynote address to the concluding town hall review of Sea Service priorities by General Dunford, Admiral Zukunft, and Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michelle Howard. Among the many highlights, as we move forward in this electronic era, was Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens’ report on the current Navy pilot study to equip sailors with tablet computers loaded with readings and training documents to include a digital version of The Bluejacket’s Manual.
We were delighted to see more Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard uniformed attendees at WEST this year. The Institute’s Member reception was extremely well attended, and we had wonderful engagement between Members, key WEST speakers, and staff! I extend my thanks to all who made WEST 2015 so valuable. You may view conference content online at WEST 2015 Playlist at www.youtube.com/usnavalinstitute.
The Naval Institute’s periodicals Proceedings and Naval History, books, and new digital publications go out every day, week, and month to thousands of Members and beyond. The Institute’s overall media outreach is far vaster still and continues to grow. A snapshot for the month of January 2015 shows:
• The circulation of newspaper, digital, and other media products making mention of the Naval Institute and our writings was 340,777,632;
• The news summaries CHINFO Clips, Defense News, and Military Times Early Bird Brief reprinted or cited Institute writings 25 times;
• The number of viewers checking the daily USNI News was 489,441.
As we continue to move out on the Institute’s mission as an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense, we are clearly becoming a source of sources—which is very good news.
Peter H. Daly, VADM, USN (Ret.)
Life Member and Member since 1978