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Naval Warfare Studies Institute
Newsletter  -  March 2, 2022

Solving Today's Problems, Today

A note from the NWSI Deputy Director

The Naval Postgraduate School recently launched two Research Groups, a new NWSI initiative that is integrating members of the NPS network into operational unit staffs:

• The Bucklew Research Group supports Naval Special Warfare (SEALS).
• The Nimitz Research Group supports U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT).

Not some kind of “think tank,” these are “do tanks” with the tactical experience and technical expertise, knowledge, skills, time, and initiative to take on the hard problems being realized every day in the Fleet and Fleet Marine Forces.

• Each Group consists of 20-30 officer/enlisted students, a handful of PhD faculty, and some senior mentors.

It’s a win-win. NPS warrior-scholars learn by doing, plus they provide real-time analysis and solutions to the Navy and Marine Corps.

• Yes, and: Navy and Marine Corps’ unit commanders get instant access to literally hundreds of additional researchers that previously had been considered as students “away at school.”

How we do it:

1. Identify a unit with a critical role and a critical need. The SEALS and PACFLT are two obvious choices.  If you’ve been watching the news this week, you can probably guess which region we’ll look to support with our next Research Group.
2. Coordinate with the supported unit to understand their mission, their capabilities, their limitations, their priorities, and where they could use some help.
3. Recruit officers and enlisted Sailors/Marines who have experience and expertise needed to support the unit. One of the primary advantages NPS brings to this challenge is the diversity of the campus – we have representatives from every service, every warfare community and occupational specialty, and a wide variety of educational programs (space systems, information warfare, strategy and policy, manpower management, and many more).  This makes the Research Groups highly interdisciplinary teams that can provide many different views on problems and bring a wide array of skills for solving them.
4. Start talking with each other and start solving problems.

NWSI’s Research Groups are agile teams that operate outside the years-long, deliberate, top-down requirements process that builds the Navy and Marine Corps after next.

• Just as software programmers sit right next to the user as they write code, NPS Research Groups sit side by side with operators as they shape solutions.
• This interaction is magic, whether writing software or developing a counter-C5ISRT concept.

Research Groups are delivering today on the real and nagging issues that plague operational commanders as they strive to execute complex and contested missions with the Navy and Marine Corps they have, not the one they wish they had. 

Don’t worry: The future fight still guides NPS’ research and education strategies.

• NWSI and NPS are closely tracking the Services’ vision and intentions so that our experts can focus their foundational and applied research on things that will provide us strategic advantage in the future.

Common to NWSI and the NPS Next transformation: Research Groups enable collaborative, mission-focused relationships with operational leaders. RADM Howard and ADM Paparo have established themselves as critical advocates and partners as we get these groups up and running.

The Bucklew and Nimitz Research Groups are just the latest examples of the way NPS is changing in order to provide operational solutions for today’s fleet and the fleet of tomorrow.  

Keep reading to learn more about the Nimitz Research Group and its upcoming warfare innovation workshop. Plus join me today as I moderate a discussion about how Booz Allen Hamilton is supporting needs in the INDOPACOM. 

V/r
Colonel Randy Pugh, USMC
Deputy Director of Naval Warfare Studies Institute
Senior Marine Representative and Associate Dean of Research at Naval Postgraduate School

Looking for research projects?

• Send us an email with your area of study so we can match you when we hear about relevant research projects. 

Want to propose research topics?

• Send us an email to propose research challenges to NPS. We can connect you to the right faculty and/or students and maybe even other stakeholders with similar needs.

NPS, U.S. Pacific Fleet launch Nimitz Research Group

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) are joining forces to establish the Nimitz Research Group, an organization which will leverage NPS’ educational and research capabilities and institutional knowledge to meet the needs of the Pacific Fleet.  Created under the aegis of NPS’ Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI), the Nimitz Research Group will consist of NPS faculty and students who will serve as an extension of the PACFLT staff in Hawaii, participating in fleet exercises and events and providing additional research capacity and subject matter expertise. Read Full Story

Student-Professor Essay on Artificial Intelligence Takes First Prize

Artificial Intelligence: Too Fragile to Fight?
Commander Edgar Jatho, U.S. Navy, and Joshua A. Kroll

This essay from NPS student Edgar Jatho and Professor Joshua Kroll won first prize in the Information Warfare Essay Contest from US Naval Institute. Their essay offers a message of caution and identifies critical issues to be considered by those working on applied AI intended for operational use by warfighters. 

AI is not a cure-all that applies in all cases, nor a product one can simply buy and implement. Rather, AI is a set of techniques that reshape problems and their solutions. Dependable application of AI to military or national security problems must rest on concrete foundations to justify confidence in the system. Limitations must be identified to be overcome, and the military must not rush forward into new technology on incomplete arguments that ignore fundamental technical reality. In this essay, several known deficiencies in current AI systems are discussed to determine what a case for trustworthy interventions would require.

Read the essay. 

Student Thesis Spotlight

A DevSecOps Approach For Developing And Deploying Containerized Cloud-Based Software On Submarines   

In December, we highlighted the notable thesis of December graduate Bridger A. Smith (Lieutenant, United States Navy), written as part of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Cyber Systems and Operations.

You can now read the full thesis, recently published in the NPS Calhoun repository. 

Events and Engagements

Delivering Solutions to INDOPACOM - TODAY!
NPS Foundation
March 2, 2022  |  12:00-1:00 pm PST

Our very own Col. Randy Pugh will moderate this virtual seminar with panelists from Booz Allen Hamilton as they discuss how Booz Allen Hamilton is transforming to meet the DOD's needs in INDOPACOM. They will explore how collaboration and shared sponsorship can deliver capabilities to meet national security needs.

Alternative Future Force Design Workshop
March 11 and 18, 2022

US Coast Guard Research & Development Center Visit and research engagement sessions
March 22-23, 2022

NWSI Nimitz Group Warfare Innovation Workshop
March 21-24, 2022

How might U.S. Pacific Fleet preserve the balance of power and, if necessary, defeat a near peer adversary in the Western Pacific?

We’re looking for student warrior-scholars to join this hands-on workshop responding to real-time challenges in the Indo-Pacific Command.

This warfare innovation workshop will explore four primary focus areas:

1. Present combat power 
2. Strengthen alliances
3. Improve posture 
4. Integrate information operations

Read more and register online. 

Save the Date! Naval Research Working Group 22
April 19-21, 2022

The Naval Research Working Group is a forum for the Naval enterprise to communicate, review, validate, and recommend topics for NPS research in FY23. 

All potential Research Sponsors, NPS faculty and students are invited and encouraged to participate.

• Call for presenters is LIVE https://nps.edu/nrp/nrwg22call2present
• Registration is OPEN https://nps.edu/nrp/nrwg-22

Important dates:

• March 30: Deadline for FY23 topic submission https://nps.edu/nrp/topic-portal
• April 19-21: Virtual NRWG 22

The NRP Topic Portal is open for FY23 research topic submissions from Fleet Topic Sponsors & NPS Faculty/Students.