bobdina
08-30-2010, 06:59 PM
Future of 2nd Fleet is yet to be decided
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 30, 2010 11:37:30 EDT
The lobbyist’s memo focused primarily on the Pentagon’s openly stated desire to shut down U.S. Joint Forces Command but included a cryptic final line: The Pentagon also is considering a move to “mothball” the venerable, Norfolk-based 2nd Fleet.
More strangely, the lobbyist and his boss both declined to comment on the supposition just days after being widely quoted on the topic. The Navy said, essentially, “No comment.”
But naval analysts and a retired admiral who commanded Atlantic Fleet surface forces say they’re hearing exactly what the lobbyist claimed: 2nd Fleet, in charge of fleet operations for defense of the East Coast and afloat training in the North Atlantic for more than 60 years, could soon be a thing of the past.
“I’m hearing that it’s going away,” said Norman Polmar, a nationally respected naval analyst who stays closely connected with the active and retired Navy. “U.S. national interests are no longer centered in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. … You don’t need a three-star admiral there for the one or two exercises a year.”
Russia continues to pose a threat in the North Atlantic, where 2nd Fleet would lead the naval fight should hostilities erupt, Polmar said. “But it’s just a small fraction of what it was,” he said. “Our interests now are Africa, South America and the Middle East — not the North Atlantic.”
Naval analyst and strategist Scott Truver said he’s heard a lot of recent rumors about Navy reorganization, “and that’s one of them.”
Retired Vice Adm. Hank Giffin, who stays in close touch with active and retired naval officials, also has heard that 2nd Fleet is on the chopping block. “That’s reasonably common knowledge around my community,” he said.
But Giffin argues that the command’s responsibilities would not be so easily replaced, or provide significant savings. Second Fleet and the various type commanders, such as his former command, Surface Force Atlantic, “are critical to keeping our forces combat-ready and ready to deploy — which is what the Navy’s function is.”
Second Fleet’s training and operational capabilities could be rolled up into Fleet Forces Command, Polmar and Giffin said — just as the Pentagon might roll Joint Forces Command’s force provider mission up to the Joint Staff. But, Giffin pointed out, Fleet Forces, a force provider, “is really not an operational organization.” The Navy would save money on salaries — “the admiral, and the admiral’s aide, and the chief of staff,” Giffin said. “But you need everybody else.”
“They obviously do a whole lot of work over there, so somebody would have to take it,” said a Norfolk-based naval officer familiar with headquarters operations.
Talk of eliminating the command, Giffin and the analysts said, is being driven by Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ drive to eliminate excess overhead costs and, in particular, his June announcement that he wants Pentagon agencies and the services to find $100 billion in overhead savings over the next five years. The biggest impact on service members and families is widely expected to be in the form of changes — fee increases or service cutbacks — to Tricare, the military’s health care plan.
Gates also wants to eliminate 50 flag or general officer billets over the next two years, and to shutter Joint Forces Command “in about a year.” Joint Forces is a four-star billet most recently filled by Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, recently named as the top officer at U.S. Central Command. His confirmed replacement is Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who is stepping down from command of U.S. Forces-Iraq.
Second Fleet is led by a three-star flag, with just-arrived Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway now at the helm.
Yet while savings are important, Polmar said, the Navy’s thinking on organizational changes such as elimination of 2nd Fleet is also being driven by the long, continuous shift away from a Cold War mentality.
“The world has changed,” Polmar said. “We’re fighting very different wars. Not only do we need different tactical organizations and different weapons, we may need different fleet structures.”
The Navy wouldn’t bite — much. “Specific details and discussions regarding Navy’s efficiencies and the iterative budget submissions are pre-decisional, and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further,” said spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez.
The Navy, he said, “is committed to working more efficiently and cost-effectively in this resource-constrained environment. We also remain focused on delivering a high-performing, mission-focused force to meet the full spectrum of operational demands.”
Members of the Virginia congressional delegation would love to be privy to the Navy’s plans as well to more detail on the proposal to close Joint Forces Command. A spokeswoman for Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said he hadn’t heard anything about a proposed 2nd Fleet shutdown until he read the memo, written by a staffer with the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, dedicated to “preserving and growing federal capabilities” in the military-rich region.
“We are attempting to verify the facts surrounding this memo,” Forbes said in a statement.
Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., also learned of the 2nd Fleet proposal from the memo. He, like the other delegation members, wants more information — and isn’t getting it.
“Congressman Nye has repeated asked the Department of Defense and the administration for any sort of concrete proposal and analysis,” spokeswoman Leah Nelson said. “He and the rest of the Hampton Roads delegation have been completely stonewalled. … All we have to go on is all these rumors.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/08/navy-rumors-surround-second-fleet-fate-083010w/
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Aug 30, 2010 11:37:30 EDT
The lobbyist’s memo focused primarily on the Pentagon’s openly stated desire to shut down U.S. Joint Forces Command but included a cryptic final line: The Pentagon also is considering a move to “mothball” the venerable, Norfolk-based 2nd Fleet.
More strangely, the lobbyist and his boss both declined to comment on the supposition just days after being widely quoted on the topic. The Navy said, essentially, “No comment.”
But naval analysts and a retired admiral who commanded Atlantic Fleet surface forces say they’re hearing exactly what the lobbyist claimed: 2nd Fleet, in charge of fleet operations for defense of the East Coast and afloat training in the North Atlantic for more than 60 years, could soon be a thing of the past.
“I’m hearing that it’s going away,” said Norman Polmar, a nationally respected naval analyst who stays closely connected with the active and retired Navy. “U.S. national interests are no longer centered in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. … You don’t need a three-star admiral there for the one or two exercises a year.”
Russia continues to pose a threat in the North Atlantic, where 2nd Fleet would lead the naval fight should hostilities erupt, Polmar said. “But it’s just a small fraction of what it was,” he said. “Our interests now are Africa, South America and the Middle East — not the North Atlantic.”
Naval analyst and strategist Scott Truver said he’s heard a lot of recent rumors about Navy reorganization, “and that’s one of them.”
Retired Vice Adm. Hank Giffin, who stays in close touch with active and retired naval officials, also has heard that 2nd Fleet is on the chopping block. “That’s reasonably common knowledge around my community,” he said.
But Giffin argues that the command’s responsibilities would not be so easily replaced, or provide significant savings. Second Fleet and the various type commanders, such as his former command, Surface Force Atlantic, “are critical to keeping our forces combat-ready and ready to deploy — which is what the Navy’s function is.”
Second Fleet’s training and operational capabilities could be rolled up into Fleet Forces Command, Polmar and Giffin said — just as the Pentagon might roll Joint Forces Command’s force provider mission up to the Joint Staff. But, Giffin pointed out, Fleet Forces, a force provider, “is really not an operational organization.” The Navy would save money on salaries — “the admiral, and the admiral’s aide, and the chief of staff,” Giffin said. “But you need everybody else.”
“They obviously do a whole lot of work over there, so somebody would have to take it,” said a Norfolk-based naval officer familiar with headquarters operations.
Talk of eliminating the command, Giffin and the analysts said, is being driven by Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ drive to eliminate excess overhead costs and, in particular, his June announcement that he wants Pentagon agencies and the services to find $100 billion in overhead savings over the next five years. The biggest impact on service members and families is widely expected to be in the form of changes — fee increases or service cutbacks — to Tricare, the military’s health care plan.
Gates also wants to eliminate 50 flag or general officer billets over the next two years, and to shutter Joint Forces Command “in about a year.” Joint Forces is a four-star billet most recently filled by Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, recently named as the top officer at U.S. Central Command. His confirmed replacement is Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who is stepping down from command of U.S. Forces-Iraq.
Second Fleet is led by a three-star flag, with just-arrived Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway now at the helm.
Yet while savings are important, Polmar said, the Navy’s thinking on organizational changes such as elimination of 2nd Fleet is also being driven by the long, continuous shift away from a Cold War mentality.
“The world has changed,” Polmar said. “We’re fighting very different wars. Not only do we need different tactical organizations and different weapons, we may need different fleet structures.”
The Navy wouldn’t bite — much. “Specific details and discussions regarding Navy’s efficiencies and the iterative budget submissions are pre-decisional, and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further,” said spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez.
The Navy, he said, “is committed to working more efficiently and cost-effectively in this resource-constrained environment. We also remain focused on delivering a high-performing, mission-focused force to meet the full spectrum of operational demands.”
Members of the Virginia congressional delegation would love to be privy to the Navy’s plans as well to more detail on the proposal to close Joint Forces Command. A spokeswoman for Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., said he hadn’t heard anything about a proposed 2nd Fleet shutdown until he read the memo, written by a staffer with the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, dedicated to “preserving and growing federal capabilities” in the military-rich region.
“We are attempting to verify the facts surrounding this memo,” Forbes said in a statement.
Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., also learned of the 2nd Fleet proposal from the memo. He, like the other delegation members, wants more information — and isn’t getting it.
“Congressman Nye has repeated asked the Department of Defense and the administration for any sort of concrete proposal and analysis,” spokeswoman Leah Nelson said. “He and the rest of the Hampton Roads delegation have been completely stonewalled. … All we have to go on is all these rumors.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/08/navy-rumors-surround-second-fleet-fate-083010w/