Category Archives: Long Form

NAVSEA Chief Talks Risk, Cyber and A New Era of Naval Shipbuilding

NAVSEA Chief Talks Risk, Cyber and A New Era of Naval Shipbuilding

NAVSEA commander Vice Adm. William Hilarides. via Stars and Stripes

NAVSEA commander Vice Adm. William Hilarides. via Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The head of the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding and maintenance arm spends a lot of time thinking about risk.

The risks of building some ships to a commercial standard, the risk of cyber attacks to ship systems, and the risks of determining how much maintenance can slide on a surface ship while at the same time getting the ship to its expected service life all focuses of U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) head, Vice Adm. William Hilarides in the last year. Read More

Interview: U.S. Navy Personnel Chief Worries Over Potential Service Retention Problems

Interview: U.S. Navy Personnel Chief Worries Over Potential Service Retention Problems

Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) Vice Adm. “Bill” Moran at Recruit Training Command (RTC) on Sept. 12, 2014. US Navy Photo

Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) Vice Adm. “Bill” Moran at Recruit Training Command (RTC) on Sept. 12, 2014. US Navy Photo

Employee retention is very much on the mind of the man whom a civilian organizational chart would label as the U.S. Navy’s head of human resources.

Vice Adm. Bill Moran— Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education (N1)—in his 15 months on the job has seen signs of a looming sailor exodus that could be on par to retention woes following the Cold War and just before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Read More

Essay: The Legal and Moral Problems of Autonomous Strike Aircraft

Essay: The Legal and Moral Problems of Autonomous Strike Aircraft

The Navy's unmanned X-47B lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Aug. 17, 2014. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s unmanned X-47B lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Aug. 17, 2014. US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy’s move toward developing a carried-based unmanned combat aircraft might eventually afford the service the ability to strike targets at long-range, but there are ethical and legal questions that linger should the Pentagon develop a fully autonomous system. Read More