Globally Engaged Navy Needs 'Utility Infielders'

By Otto Kreisher, Special Correspondent

With so many different missions worldwide, and in a “resource-constrained environment,” the Navy cannot afford to have specialized platforms, “we have to have utility infielders,” said Rear Adm. Robert Thomas, director of the Navy’s strategy and policy division.

In a presentation at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition May 4, Thomas conducted a tour of Navy operations, ranging from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to partnership building and humanitarian missions in Africa and Latin America. “We are definitely globally engaged,” he said.

In the Central Command theater, Navy forces are conducting ballistic missile defense, maritime security, including anti-piracy patrols, and providing 75 percent of the strike missions into Afghanistan from aircraft carriers. Pacific Command is definitely a deterrence theater because of North Korea and China, he said.

Africa Command is primarily an engagement theater with opportunities to build partnership capacity by working with the small navies through the African Partnership Station deployments. Thomas said 12 to 15 navies can be working with the crew of USS Nashville, the current partnership station ship.

Southern Command is another engagement theater where Navy operations “can make significant inroads” and help the diplomatic efforts. “The ability to engage with naval forces on a neutral playing field gives the U.S. Navy a big advantage,” he said.

Thomas conceded that the Navy learned some lessons from the hostile reception from some Latin American leaders when the 4th Fleet was established.

He noted the cooperation between the Navy and the Coast Guard in maritime security operations in Northern Command, which covers the continental United States.

In response to a question, the admiral said the Navy was good at producing metrics to justify budget requests for its traditional operations but “not very good at showing metrics for engagement.”