{"id":35370,"date":"2019-01-15T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T16:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/01\/15\/the-pentagon-needs-a-navalist-as-secretary-of-defense\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:51:47","slug":"the-pentagon-needs-a-navalist-as-secretary-of-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2019\/01\/15\/the-pentagon-needs-a-navalist-as-secretary-of-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon needs a navalist as secretary of defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cChaos<\/a>\u201d has left the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the uproar over James Mattis\u2019 resignation subsides, the question of his successor remains open. Many considerations will guide President Donald Trump as he weighs his options to lead the Department of Defense. At this moment in our history, one thing should be foremost in the president\u2019s mind: In an era of renewed great power competition, America needs a navalist as its new secretary of defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all of the politically fueled hysteria about Russia and the even more irrational fear of a third-rate Iran, there is only one nation that offers a potential long-term strategic challenge to America: China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has focused on China from the moment it took office, as reflected in trade policy, diplomacy and the 2017 National Security Strategy. Economic policy, information operations and diplomatic skill are likely to matter far more than raw military strength for containing China. Nonetheless, the United States Navy is the primary hard power tool for ensuring that China does not achieve primacy in the Pacific and threaten vital U.S. national interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America is a maritime nation with no legitimate enemies in its entire hemisphere. Naval preeminence is our clear military priority, even if it must come at the expense of the Army\u2019s budget share and force structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Navy remains the only true blue water fleet on the planet, but it is in increasingly parlous shape. The Fat Leonard scandal and the pair of fatal collisions<\/a> in the Pacific\u2019s 7th Fleet in 2017 exposed cultural rot<\/a> at the heart of the Navy. As many as 60 admirals<\/a> are receiving scrutiny for potential ethics violations, and 17 sailors are dead. Yet these humiliating incidents are only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Pentagon is bloated and we have an army that can\u2019t make its recruiting goals<\/a>, it seems clear that the U.S. Navy is too small to meet the demands placed on it. A 2015 study by the Government Accountability Office found that the Navy fulfilled only 44 percent<\/a> of all combatant commander requests for support. Meeting all of them would require an additional 150 ships. The accidents involving the destroyers Fitzgerald and John S. McCain were predictable outcomes of this overstretched and overworked fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the blame for our incredibly expensive shrinking Navy can be laid at the feet of a decades-long procurement disaster. The littoral combat ship, intended to fill out much of the surface force, is the greatest embarrassment, but far from the only one. Derided by sailors as the \u201clittle crappy ship,\u201d the LCS, the Navy has admitted, would not survive<\/a> sustained naval combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\t