{"id":39258,"date":"2021-01-14T22:07:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T22:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/14\/us-navys-no-2-civilian-claims-leadership-shouldnt-be-blamed-for-old-failures-some-disagree\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:12:10","slug":"us-navys-no-2-civilian-claims-leadership-shouldnt-be-blamed-for-old-failures-some-disagree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2021\/01\/14\/us-navys-no-2-civilian-claims-leadership-shouldnt-be-blamed-for-old-failures-some-disagree\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy\u2019s No. 2 civilian claims leadership shouldn\u2019t be blamed for old failures. Some disagree."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 In an eyebrow-raising statement, the acting undersecretary of the U.S. Navy complained about congressional oversight of naval programs, suggesting that current leaders shouldn\u2019t be held responsible for previous administrations\u2019 failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be held guilty for the sins of your parents,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2021\/01\/navy-acting-undersec-uss-ford-lcs-not-our-fault\/\">Gregory Slavonic said<\/a>, \u201cand I think the Navy is being called to task because of [the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/12\/15\/the-us-navy-is-investigating-a-potential-lcs-class-wide-design-flaw\/\" target=_blank>littoral combat ship<\/a>] \u2014 that this administration had nothing to do with \u2014 but we\u2019re having to fix it. [The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/01\/30\/the-carrier-ford-is-trying-to-shake-years-of-controversy-and-find-its-groove\/\" target=_blank> aircraft carrier] Gerald Ford<\/a>, all those challenges, we\u2019re being held by our feet to the fire to make those things right. And we didn\u2019t have anything to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slavonic decried resistance on Capitol Hill to the Navy\u2019s plans to rapidly develop unmanned systems, which have been derailed for two years because of congressional concerns over the service\u2019s suspect track record for maturing new technologies on programs such as the Ford-class carrier and the littoral combat ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSome of these people may have been in these jobs too long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is certainly true that lawmakers have been vocal in their dissatisfaction with the Navy over its delays in fielding a fully working carrier Ford and LCS, and that many of the issues with Ford and LCS date to decisions from the Bush administration. But that current leaders shouldn\u2019t take the heat from lawmakers for ongoing failures: That notion doesn\u2019t wash with many experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2021\/01\/11\/unclear-on-unmanned-part-3-a-new-years-resolution-to-slow-down\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CNO_unmanned.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Unclear on unmanned, Part 3: A New Year\u2019s resolution to slow down<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">After a yearlong battle with Congress, the Navy is slowing down and committing to proving out technologies before expanding into a major acquisitions program for unmanned.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if the Navy\u2019s current civilian leadership didn\u2019t create many of the issues its working through, it hasn\u2019t been very open about the ongoing problems either, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis administration [was] not clear with the Hill regarding the situation and challenges with Ford and LCS,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWe keep getting reports from the waterfront about failed tests and design flaws, but the civilian leadership isn\u2019t standing up and saying what the potential liabilities are and how they are going to address them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe may not be able to \u2018fix\u2019 LCS, but we can come up with a way to use them that mitigates their shortfalls. On Ford, they could just be more open about the state of its development, and make changes in how the current CVN [nuclear-propelled aircraft carrier] fleet is managed to avoid it being overworked in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy has made fixing Ford and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/07\/31\/the-us-navy-is-preparing-a-major-surge-of-lcs-deployments\/\" target=_blank> the LCS <\/a>a priority in recent years, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2021\/01\/11\/unclear-on-unmanned-pt-2-on-capitol-hill-the-us-navy-has-a-credibility-problem\/\" target=_blank>trust between the Navy and Congress has eroded<\/a>. In a three-part series run earlier this week, Defense News reported that Congress has been increasingly prescriptive in its dealings with the Navy and wants its leaders to focus first on developing and demonstrating new technology before it starts designing new platforms around said technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael O\u2019Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, minced no words, saying Slavonic shouldn\u2019t take criticism personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPerhaps he should think more about the taxpayer and the country, and recognize that as a top leader of the Navy, he needs to help earn the nation\u2019s trust for his institution in a way that transcends person, administration, or any given program,\u201d O\u2019Hanlon wrote in an email. \u201cWhether problems with LCS and Ford are his fault or not, he needs to be part of the solution \u2014 and recognize that lawmakers acting in good faith but being tough on the Navy may be doing the country a service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slavonic\u2019s statement could be reasonably attributed to his short time remaining in the office, said Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. But taking the heat for your predecessors is part of being in leadership, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile there is an element of fairness to the statement, it\u2019s part of the job,\u201d Eaglen said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t defend or speak to lessons learned of your predecessors\u2019 mistakes, then don\u2019t take the gig. When Sen. [John] McCain blasted Air Force (and other) officials for buying the F-22 \u2018hangar queen,\u2019 they had to answer for decisions made before their time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part of the reason Congress does this is to make clear to current political appointees that decisions they make will be felt, good or bad, after they leave office, Eaglen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it gets right down to it, however, pointing backward at your predecessors\u2019 failures isn\u2019t an option for commanders in the fleet, and it shouldn\u2019t be for civilian leaders either, said Clark, the Hudson Institute analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs any commander knows, you inherit the ship and crew as is, and you then own it,\u201d Clark said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Navy&#8217;s acting No. 2 civilian doesn&#8217;t like taking the heat for past administrations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":103,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","left-column","home","middle-column","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,29,162,16,36,103],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-39258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-surface-navy-association"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SHRXIYN5PZDB3BUM5JOFGLPNKA","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2021\/01\/14\/us-navys-no-2-civilian-claims-leadership-shouldnt-be-blamed-for-old-failures-some-disagree\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Navy\u2019s No. 2 civilian claims leadership shouldn\u2019t be blamed for old failures. Some disagree. - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Navy&#039;s acting No. 2 civilian doesn&#039;t like taking the heat for past administrations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Navy\u2019s No. 2 civilian claims leadership shouldn\u2019t be blamed for old failures. 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