CNO Speaks at Sea-Air-Space Dinner About Joint Force Interdependence

By Chief Mass Communication Specialist Julianne Metzger, CNO Public Affairs Office

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Chief of Naval Operations addressed 1200 military, government civilians and defense industry members at a Sea-Air-Space Exposition April 8.

During his remarks, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert broached a new topic that he called "pursuing interdependence."

"In a complicated world and facing a period of relentless demand on naval forces," Greenert said, "it's time for our services to adapt and to come together to get the most out of this period."

Greenert believes the answer to emerging threats and a pressurized budget environment is a more unified approach to the military's procurement procedures.

"We need to look at learning how to depend on each other more," said Greenert. "In the Chairman of Joint Chief's guidance, he lays it out as Joint Force Interdependence. It just doesn't exist, like it needs to exist. It's taking jointness that we have talked about for decades to another level."

Greenert went on to explain that the services work seamlessly in a variety of operations. He said the services now routinely work together with common systems, common strategies, and have achieved a large degree of joint combat effectiveness throughout history. Greenert hopes to further that cooperation to interdependent research and development with the intention of creating and implementing capabilities that can be adapted for each of the services.

"For us in the Navy, interdependence in the near term means not overspending on programs that are similar in the other services," said Greenert. "We must be willing to commit to more capabilities that are born joint and a lot of those are in weapons. We must pursue better cross talk in our research and development centers of excellence, among service labs, in industry as well as in universities."

What does this mean for industry? Greenert asked industry to help the services by giving this some thought and to help the cross service dialogue among the services in this area.

"We are responsible to provide the joint force of today and tomorrow," said Greenert in his closing. "I think evaluating our interdependence is a strategic imperative that we need to check out and see what is there. Let's give this some thought."

The Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Expo brings the U.S. defense industrial base, private-sector companies and crucial military decision makers together for an annual innovative, educational, professional, and maritime networking event.