The new U.S. Secretary of the Navy isn’t too knowledgeable on the post he is about to take over. One would think a minimum amount of homework would have been done by now. Pretty scary. Industry and the Navy can run rings around this guy via PowerPoint because he doesn’t know, what he doesn’t know.
In answering written questions on such major subjects as the Navy’s budget, readiness of the fleet and the state of shipbuilding program, Ray Mabus, above , repeatedly pleaded ignorance and promised careful study:
Q. In your opinion, does the Department of the Navy’s projected budget have adequate resources … ?
A. I have not had an opportunity to study in depth the department’s budget requests.
Q. What is your assessment of the current risk to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program schedule during its system development and demonstration phase?
A. I am not aware of the status of risk to the JSF program.
Q. What level of funding do you think the Navy will need to execute (its 30-year shipbuilding plan) … ?
A. I have not yet examined in detail the level of funding the Navy will need to execute the 30-year shipbuilding plan.
I believe I could have bluffed my way through those questions with equivocal answers.
“The level of funding does not appear to be adequate to meet the Navy’s current projections. However, the shipbuilding requirements will be better defined during the Quadrennial Defense Review.”
“The risk assessments appear favorable but much depends on keeping the test schedule on track. Obviously, as more flight testing is done, our confidence level grows.”
“That’s one of the things we hope to hammer out during the Quadrennial Defense Review. Secretary Gates feels we need to do more than simply divide the budgetary spoils this time around. We’re looking for a very strong assessment from the Joint Chiefs on what missions we’re trying to accomplish and what we need to perform them. I think it’s understood that we cannot continue as we have…any increases in the budget have to tied firmly to our strategic requirements.”
See? Authoritative but noncommittal. Defer to the QDR. Show props to the SecDef. You would think that Ray Mabus would know enough about politics to dance along the knife’s edge.
We have been spoiled. Dr. Don Winter (PhD Physics) had DECADES of military and Navy experience in industry. Very much a “hands-on” SECNAV.
Installing a Harvard lawyer to replace a physicist tells me all I need to know about the Navy’s way ahead.
i find it refreshing for a politician to say i don’t know when he doesn’t….being a lawyer i’m sure he could have spun the discussion but we’d all be here criticizing him for that so i’ll wait and see…
it takes character to say say “i don’t know.”
it takes courage to find out the answers to the questions.
were admission of ignorance sufficient credentials for being SECNAV: sign me up.
what is more likely is that he is being lawyerly in not setting any position from which he’ll be measured in the future. dr. winter was not so sly.
and please don’t expect me to think that this guy hasn’t been briefied by white house policy guys and pentagon reps. you don’t get this far without being prepared. far from being refreshing he is evasive.
more likely is that he knows everything he needs and is awaiting direction from the white house.