October 03, 2014
Hendrix: The Navy Has No Strategy? A Response to Randy Forbes
By all measures Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., is a maritime strategist and a supporter of the United States Navy. He is chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee. He has written extensively on the importance of sea power within the international arena. So when he states that the Navy lacks both strategic thinkers and an intellectual foundation for war planning, people ought to pay attention.
The revelation of Forbes’ blunt letter to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert expressing concern over a dearth in strategic thinking within the Navy has laid bare a persistent challenge that has troubled the Navy for the past two decades: its inability to create a strategy and explain it to the American people and their representatives.