INTERCEPTS
“Three out of four young people between the ages of 18
and 24 in the United States cannot qualify to join the military. You can’t join the military today without a high school
diploma, yet one-third of the people in our country don’t finish high school. … We can’t remain a great country as long
as that is the case. We’re on a very dangerous path if we
keep going down that way.”
Ray Mabus
Secretary of the Navy
On why he views poor education as a major threat to national security.
Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, March 25
“Energy security comes in a lot of different flavors and energy security is, the way the secretary [of the Navy Ray
Mabus] looks at it from a national perspective, the ability to
not be beholden to fuel sources that may be challenged in
terms of our availability to be able to use them.”
Rear Adm. Philip Cullom
Director of the Navy’s Energy and Environmental Readiness Division
On the need to view energy as a strategic resource.
Fuel, March 22
Past Acquisition Problems
Continue to Haunt USCG
Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Coast Guard and
maritime transportation were critical of several Coast Guard programs that are behind schedule
and over budget.
Of the service’s 17 large acquisi-
tion programs, “10 are over budg-
et, eight are behind schedule and
six are both over budget and
behind schedule,” Rep. Frank
LoBiondo, R-N.J., subcommittee
chairman, said during an April 13
hearing to examine the status of
the Coast Guard’s major acquisi-
tion programs. “If we used the
original [2007] Deepwater baseline
as a guide, nearly all of these pro-
grams would be over budget and
behind schedule.”
In his opening statement, Lo-
Biondo said the Coast Guard is not
where it should be with regard to
meeting National Security Cutter
(NSC) production deadlines and
staying under budget. He also crit-
icized the service’s lack of un-
manned assets.
“In recent years, the Coast
Guard has made significant
changes to its acquisition enterprise to increase the efficiency and
efficacy of our programs,” Vice
Adm. John P. Currier, Coast Guard
chief of staff (deputy commandant
for mission support), said during
his opening statement.
LoBiondo acknowledged that
challenges of the past continue to
have an impact today.
“We need to be practical and recognize that a course direction
change of this magnitude simply
does not happen overnight,” said
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., ranking
Democrat on the subcommittee.
The Government Accountability
Office provided testimony based
on a report that was recently
released on Coast Guard acquisition management for major programs. It determined that the
majority of the service’s 17 major
acquisition programs continue to
face execution challenges, and
unrealistic budget planning is
largely to blame.
SecNav Honors Cities
As LCS Namesakes
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus
decided to honor four U.S. cities by
selecting their names for the next
four Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs).
In a March 18 release, Mabus
announced the selection of
Milwaukee for LCS 5 and Detroit for
LCS 7. The two Freedom-class
ships, built by a Lockheed Martin
team at Fincantieri’s Marinette
Marine shipyard in Marinette,
Wis., eventually will join sister
ships Freedom and Fort Worth in
the fleet.
Mabus announced in a March
25 release the selection of Jackson
for LCS 6 and Montgomery for LCS
8. The two Independence-class
ships will be built by Austal’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala., and follow
sister ships Independence and
Coronado into the fleet.
