Mid-January took me back to the picture-perfect coastal city of Newport, Rhode Island,
one of my favorites. Readers of this blog may recall a prior entry on Salve Regina
College, perched on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. This trip was to a very different
institution, but one also set on the water, this time Narragansett Bay. Its aquatic location
is no accident; I was visiting the Naval War College, accredited by NECHE since
1989.
Most of us are familiar with the armed services academies (sharp readers will
remember we visited the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut last fall). The esteemed
Naval Academy is located in Annapolis Maryland, but there are three other educational
institutions associated with the Navy: the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California; the newly established U.S. Naval Community College (mostly online); and
the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, founded in 1884. Each has a distinct mission but the unique mission of the War College is truly fascinating.
As the U.S. Navy’s “Home of Thought,” the College educates and develops competent and ethical leaders, supports combat readiness, strengthens global maritime partnerships, helps define the future of the Navy, and contributes original strategy and legal research to the national and international community. The War College has educated more than 24,000 U.S. and international military officers and hundreds of federal civilian executives across its colleges and various academic centers. Whether its students are enrolled in a 10-month residential program leading to a Master’s degree (which NECHE accredits), one of its several nonresident education programs, or short- term leadership courses, students benefit from NWC’s world-class faculty, rigorous curriculum, practical field study and research opportunities, and interactive wargaming experiences.
My hosts for the visit were President Rear Admiral Pete Garvin and Provost Stephen
Mariano. Typically, I do not share CVs of a school’s leadership, but it’s especially
instructive here. Rear Adm. Pete Garvin is the President of the U.S. Naval War College
and a career patrol and reconnaissance pilot. He graduated, with merit, from the U.S.
Naval Academy in 1989 with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and attended the National
War College, graduating in 2005 with a Master of Science in National Security Strategy.
He is also a 2015 alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI.
His previous commands include the “Fighting Tigers” of VP-8, Patrol and
Reconnaissance Wing (CPRW) 10, Navy Recruiting Command, Patrol and
Reconnaissance Group and, most recently, Naval Education and Training Command.
Now that’s impressive!
Provost Stephen Mariano, Ph.D. most recently served as the deputy commandant and
dean of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy. He also served on the faculties of
the School of International Service at American University, National Defense University,
the Royal Military College of Canada and the U.S. Military Academy. He holds a B.A. in
mathematics and economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.A. in
national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. in war studies
from the Royal Military College of Canada.
That should give you a sense of both the military experience that permeates the college
and the high-quality academic qualifications of its faculty and staff. Another eye-opener I
gleaned from our visit: many of the War College’s students come from other countries.
In fact, many commanders of foreign navies and coast guards are alumni of the college.
The vast majority of these international students are sponsored by the U.S. government,
and at certain points in history, alumni included representatives from Iran and Russia.
Unsurprisingly, today much of the intelligence research done here focuses on
understanding and predicting the politics and policies of those two countries from afar.
But one won’t find representatives from those two countries anywhere near campus.
While the college’s primary mission is educational, its research on real-world current
issues like the ongoing war in the Middle East is made available to those responsible for developing war plans. One example: during my visit, Navy ships launched an assault on Houthis inYemen, and there is no doubt in my mind that some of the planning for that operation had taken place in the rooms surrounding us.
To understand the essence of naval war games, think back to the classic Hasbro board
game of Battleship. That was a vastly simplified version, played on ruled grids in which
each player’s fleet of warships were hidden and had to be discovered before one’s own
fleet was blown up. Well, the War College has been the home of real Navy war games since its founding, and we were able to visit several rooms with gridded floors where real-life war exercises had been played over decades. Today, the sophistication of these games is almost beyond imagination. Gridded floor tiles have made way for computers, simulations and technologically advanced analysis tucked out of view behind classified doors. While any war planning is a painful reality, I have to say that it was heartening to see the seriousness and commitment of the people we depend upon
to do this difficult work for the security of our nation.
In the past, there were 60+ warships home-ported at Naval Station Newport, where theWar College is located. The nearby bridge that spans the Bay was built to allow those ships to pass underneath. Today, the site of the War College and the naval station, Coasters Harbor Island, supports only a handful of U.S. Coast Guard cutters and naval research vessels, and is more focused on the educational and training mission of the Navy. Instead of destroyers one now sees majestic sailboats accessing stunningly beautiful Newport Harbor.
It was disarmingly peaceful.