Steven Wills
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced on Oct. 31 the formation of a new maritime Strategic Studies Group (SSG) modeled on the 1980’s Chief of Naval Operations group. Its mission is to “train future flag officers in strategic thinking and to conduct research on some of the Department of the Navy’s most vexing strategic challenges.”
The election of former President Donald J. Trump to a second term would likely obviate this effort, as John Phelan, Trump’s incoming Navy secretary, would have his own ideas and potential organizational changes for the naval services.
But the next Navy secretary should keep the core of Del Toro’s idea and create a group of upwardly mobile Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine captains and Marine Corps colonels to examine, assess, create and experiment with new concepts of Naval strategy and operations. The increasing tensions with China demand it.
A Navy secretariat-led SSG could also forge the connections with political leaders needed by the Navy to revive the interest and expertise of civilian government leaders in maritime strategy and policy. Finally, exposing flag-eligible Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine officers to senior policy makers and their challenges supports the development of wartime leaders that better understand and work with the nation’s civilian leadership.
The original Strategic Studies Group (SSG)was created in 1981 by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Thomas Hayward. It was designed to take advantage of the facilities and instructors of the Naval War College and support a group of upwardly mobile Navy captains and Marine Corps colonels as they sought to implement the Navy’s new maritime strategy concept and to connect these solutions to Navy programming efforts for future systems.
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