Theater Ballistic Missile Defense from the SeaCharles C. Swicker - Newport Paper 14
Theater Ballistic Missile Defense from the SeaAcknowledgments
This project began in the fall of 1994 upon my arrival at the Naval War College. Professor Tom Grassey, who had guided and edited my first graduate thesis at the Naval Postgraduate School, invited me into his office, explained the option of doing an Advanced Research Project (ARP), and volunteered to curb my verbosity once again. His help was vital throughout, from initial brainstorming through briefing rehearsals, long hours of editing over take-out pizza, a Naval War College Review article hewn from the central chapter, and now, finally, to the finished Newport Paper. I thank him as both his student and as a friend.
The ARP program exists because of the energy and dedication of Dr. John B. Hattendorf. His encouragement was essential, as was the able guidance given by his assistant, Commander Bill Burns. Mrs. Barbara Prisk completed the team, handling administrative matters with grace and skill.
During my research travel in the summer and fall of 1995, many individuals in the ballistic missile defense community were remarkably generous with their time, even when a scheduled visit to one key facility led to a short-notice call on another. At the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, I would like to thank Captain John Langknecht, Mr. Richard Sokol, and the Chief Systems Architect, Dr. Bruce Pierce. From the Navy's Program Executive Office for Theater Air Defense, Mr. Dusty Schilling, Lieutenant Commander Steve Petersen, and Mr. Mike Chi provided not only information and advice but also an opportunity to travel to the National Test Facility at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, for TMD Wargame 95B. From the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, Professor Paul Bloch provided key background information from previous TBMD-related projects. At the Pentagon office of the Navy's Director for Theater Air Warfare (N865), Commanders Dan Morgiewicz and Rich Durham and Lieutenant Commander Taylor Skardon were most helpful. Rear Admiral Rodney Rempt, N865 in 1995, and now the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Theater Combat Systems, made time in his schedule on an October afternoon in Newport for a one-on-one briefing of the final draft, and for that I am grateful.
Words must be backed up with facts, and for those facts I turned to the technical and intelligence communities. Lieutenant Commander Mac Davis from COMOPTEVFOR got me started in the right direction. At the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Mr. Al Hales, Mr. John Canning, and Lieutenant Jon Hill provided essential background on the unique challenges of TBMD, while Ms. Cathy Cheney and Mr. Mike Jobe at the National Maritime Intelligence Center explained the true nature of the rapidly evolving TBM threat.
Contractors and consultants, many of them retired senior naval officers, lent their own perspectives to my ideas in everything from formal briefings to informal discussions over morning coffee. I would particularly like to thank retired Vice Admiral J.D. Williams, who was the first to hear the general outline of the final paper after I roughed it out on a laptop in Colorado Springs. My thanks also to Mr. Ward Clark of Techmatics, Mr. Fred Jerding of SPA, and Mr. John Flynn of PRC.
Once the final draft of a major project is complete and the author feels he has worked hard and done an honest job, he can tend to feel that his words are immutable and thus resist encouragement to carry his thoughts just a bit further. Dr. Grassey finessed this problem by enlisting the acute minds of Professors Frank Uhlig and Tim Somes, both of whom read the entire draft and then offered clear and cogent suggestions for additional areas of emphasis. Their guidance added significant insight, especially in the area of NCA-level command and control.
Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, Gayle, whom I abandoned in Florida for the duration of my War College tour, choosing instead to live the life of a geographic bachelor in her parents' home outside New Bedford. Now that we are living in Virginia and I am at the Pentagon, she scarcely sees more of me. Last of all, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor Frank Teti of the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. Ten years ago, with thumbs hooked in his suspenders and half-glasses perched precariously on the end of his nose, he lectured, ruminated, pontificated, and demanded . . . that this sailor could also be a scholar. I hope I have heeded his words.
Vienna, Virginia
August 1998