Many are asking, “What is the Navy doing today?”  The answer – the Navy is engaged worldwide, meeting an ever increasing demand for naval forces to conduct a wide range of missions- deterrence, maritime security and the global war on terror.   More than 13,000 Sailors are on the ground in the Central Command operating area.  Navy specialists are embedded into Army and Marine Corps units on the ground in Iraq, providing their expertise and completing their missions in a variety of ways.  Of note, the Navy is leading six provisional reconstruction teams in Afghanistan -- fixing roads, schools, clinics and drilling wells for the Afghan people.   Our Sailors are making a difference, and some have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we as a nation can prevail in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.   But one, I believe, must look beyond Iraq to not lose sight of the importance of the Navy’s enduring mission.  We have, and must have, the capability to send powerful messages of global influence and deterrence by aggregating our Carrier and Expeditionary Striking Forces, as well as maintaining the ability to defeat potential adversaries by demonstrating credible power from the sea.  We have a globally distributed Navy, particularly in regions that need security, stability and lawfulness on the high seas to stem the tide of terrorism.  These regions include the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Guinea, and significant portions of the Caribbean and Pacific Rim.     

“Big Blue” Operating Today

The Chief of Naval Operations opens his Guidance for 2007 with the following:

“America remains a nation at war.  While we continue to fight that war, we must also contend with traditional threats from regional powers who possess robust conventional, and in some cases, nuclear capabilities.  The freedom to conduct naval operations in support of joint, allied and coalition operations – assuring access and projecting persistent combat power – must be preserved through enduring warfighting competencies.  We are and will remain a warfighting, seagoing service.”    

This past summer, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Ronald Reagan and USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Groups participated in exercise Valiant Shield in the Western Pacific.  This was the largest military exercise conducted by the United States in Pacific waters since the Vietnam War.   The exercise focused on integrated training among U.S. military forces, demonstrating our real-world proficiency in sustaining Joint forces and in detecting, locating, tracking and engaging units at sea, in the air, on land, and cyberspace.  Admirals Halsey and Spruance would have felt right at home leading our Valiant Shield forces.  Also, this past summer in the Southern Command area of responsibility, USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group deployed in support of “Partnership of the Americas” in the waters off South America, conducting exercises and operations with Caribbean and Latin America countries, as well as goodwill port visits throughout the region.

Today “Big Blue” is operating forward and providing credible combat power where needed.  Currently, USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group steams toward the Central Command Area of Operations to provide support for U.S. and coalition forces. Once in theater they will join USS Dwight D. Eisenhower CSG, and USS BATAAN and USS BOXER ESGs, already on station.  Their presence gives Central Command additional capability in Horn of Africa operations and the ability to conduct increased regional maritime security and deterrence operations.  In the Pacific, USS Ronald Reagan is again deploying only six months after their last deployment in order to meet U.S. Pacific Command’s requirement for carrier presence in the region while USS Kitty Hawk, already forward deployed, undergoes a maintenance period.  In the U.S. European and Southern Command areas of operations the Navy is providing forces for maritime security operations with regional naval partners in the Mediterranean Sea and along the coasts of Western Africa, Central and South America. 

 Why the Increasing Demand? 

It is the personal opinion of this officer that some of the assumptions that shaped the most recent QDR were wrong.  Many of those planning assumptions were based on a world community of nation-states predicted to be more stable than today.  The increased demand for naval forces due to this instability is evident as we look at where our Naval Forces are operating today and why.  We have seen the emergence of several state leaders who are what many could consider hostile.  We need to revisit that strategic landscape as these countries are now emboldened to start acting in a manner that constitutes a threat to U.S. national interests, global stability and regional security. 

As recently as this January, the Director of National Intelligence presented the Annual Threat Assessment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.  The unclassified written testimony stated the following regarding these countries of interest:

Iran

Iranian conventional military power threatens Persian Gulf states and challenges US interests.  Iran is enhancing its ability to project its military power primarily with ballistic missiles and naval power with the goal of dominating the Gulf region and deterring potential adversaries. It seeks a capacity to disrupt the operations and reinforcement of US forces based in the region potentially intimidating regional allies into withholding support for US policy and raising the political, financial, and human costs to the US and our allies of our presence in Iraq.

Venezuela

Chavez’s effort to politicize the Venezuelan Armed Forces and to create a large and well-armed Territorial Guard and military reserves is another sign that he is breaking with the trend in the region toward more professional and apolitical militaries. His purchase of modern military equipment from Russia, including 24 SU-30 advanced fighter-bombers, and moves toward developing his own weapons production capability are increasingly worrisome to his neighbors.  

North Korea

North Korea’s threat to international security is also grave... In July it flight-tested missiles and in October it tested a nuclear device. We remain concerned it could proliferate these weapons abroad. Indeed, it already has sold ballistic missiles to several Middle Eastern countries. By pressing forward with its nuclear weapon and missile programs, North Korea threatens to destabilize a region that has known several great power conflicts over the last one hundred years and now comprises some of the world’s largest economies. 

Countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela are not reluctant to “rattle their sabers.”  Through both words and action, these countries are acting in ways that destabilize their region’s security.  In a December 2006 Washington Post article titled, “The New Demagogues,” author Niall Ferguson, specifically addresses Iran and Venezuela stating: 

Their rhetoric may seem overblown, but no one should underestimate the threat these new demagogues pose – especially to the United States.  Irrelevant in Latin America, impotent in the Middle East, ignored in Africa and isolated in Europe, Washington may be facing its biggest foreign policy crisis since the late 1970’s…Still the fact that Chavez and Ahmadinejad sit on top of 6 percent and 11 percent of proven global oil reserves must give us pause.  

These emboldened actors or “New Demagogues” have engaged in disruptive actions within an environment where the United States is perceived as distracted by Iraq. These countries currently possess the opportunity, capacity and will to deliver on threats. If they act, the consequences would be immediately perilous, economically damaging and certainly disruptive.   History has shown that these countries’ actions won’t change overnight and that over time, new threats will emerge; and old ones may reemerge. 

There is another significant operational driver for our increased demand—“access”.  The Navy’s access around the globe is on the rise relative to other options available to our Combatant Commanders.  The current trend of fewer overseas bases and less American concrete on foreign soil means Naval forces, free to operate on the maritime commons, provide the force structure where and when needed, without requiring foreign permission or coordination, which has become less easy to obtain.   The Navy has become the preeminent force to address these global challenges because we deliver global reach, persistent presence and power.  Navy forces can be on scene, off a state’s coastline (re: Operation Enduring Freedom), at a moment’s notice, ready to conduct shaping, influence and deterrence operations, as long as necessary.  The intent is clear: deter and dissuade “bad behaving” state actors as well as stop non-state actors such as terrorists, insurgents, arms traffickers, pirates, and smugglers overseas- prior to reaching our home waters.  Navy’s forward presence (“speak softly”) and its credible power (“and carry a big stick”) to strike accurately and lethally when and where needed are vital to that intent.   

Answering the Call

                While Fleet units must be able to operate and fight effectively en masse during major combat and high-end deterrence operations, they are also called on to operate in smaller units, often individually, in support of global maritime security operations or the war on terrorism. We recognize and address this divergent nature of our tasking by training to the standard of major combat operations to ensure that we will dominate and deliver access through the sea, while providing broad deterrent capabilities from the sea. We also conduct specialized training so that we can engage in theater security cooperation at the individual unit level.  With this training, Navy forces assigned to geographic theaters are distributed to support regional maritime security initiatives, and subsequently re-aggregated as required to conduct major combat or deterrence operations.  The Fleet Response Plan enables us to provide rotational forces and surge forces in response to the growing demand by Combatant Commanders.  Furthermore, FRP provides the framework that enables the Navy to deploy forces sooner/longer for a wide spectrum of missions by building and preserving readiness throughout a unit's operational cycle. This approach has given us a higher degree of agility and has generated readiness more efficiently, and remains the key component to deploying and operating Navy forces both globally and forward.

Conclusion          

As the past has shown, and as the current security environment continues to demonstrate, Navy forces deliver.  The Navy will continue to be the preeminent force ready to respond overseas and defend our homeland.  This is the Navy we have now and must have in the future – one that can execute our Nation’s enduring missions.  Our threats are both real and evolving.  The great challenge we face in this dynamic era is to maintain a Navy that is agile, forward, powerful and responsive to deter and dissuade threats while building key partnerships for maritime security.  Naval forces will provide the decades of deterrence necessary for our Nation’s continued well-being.  More and more, the U.S. Navy’s future will be about preventing wars, while sustaining the ability to win them.  

Admiral Nathman currently serves as Commander U.S. Fleet Forces Command.  Fleet Forces Command organizes, mans, trains and equips naval forces for assignment to combatant commanders and articulates Fleet warfighting and readiness requirements to the Chief of Naval operations.