{"id":37138,"date":"2021-09-23T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T19:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/23\/legislation-calling-for-surface-warfare-officer-specialization-is-dead-in-the-water\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:01:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:01:04","slug":"legislation-calling-for-surface-warfare-officer-specialization-is-dead-in-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/23\/legislation-calling-for-surface-warfare-officer-specialization-is-dead-in-the-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislation calling for surface warfare officer specialization is dead in the water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Language in the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 fiscal 2022 defense policy bill will mandate more scrutiny of the Navy\u2019s surface warfare officer community but will not include a provision mandating that SWOs be assigned specialized career paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy\u2019s SWO pipeline has remained largely unchanged for a century, emphasizing a jack-of-all-trades, generalist experience as opposed to a SWO specializing in engineering or combat systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bill introduced in August, the Surface Warfare Officer Leadership Enhancement, or SWOLE, Act<\/a>, sought to mandate that the sea service provide these specialized paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But representatives for Virginia Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, one of the act\u2019s sponsors, confirmed Thursday that the provision was stricken from the act before it was folded into the overall House defense bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Government Accountability Office<\/a> report on SWO retention released earlier this year found 65 percent of SWOs surveyed supported career specialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\t