Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer provided the keynote address during a luncheon on the final day of the annual Sea-Air-Space (SAS) exposition at the Gaylord National Convention Center, May 8, 2019.

Spencer highlighted several topics concerning the future of the Department of the Navy (DON), including readiness, partnerships and improving processes.

"The Department of the Navy's strategy for restoring readiness, strengthening relationships and reforming our processes has been set," he said. "And now we're building on that foundation with a disciplined focus on people, process and capabilities."

The task of shifting into a more sustainable force is one that will require an increase in velocity for the DON, Spencer explained.

"We want to be capable to dominate future conflicts from the seafloor to space - blue water, the littorals, mountains and desert - and also throughout the information and data domain," he said.

"And we must execute this vision with truly a sense of urgency. We have the money; we do not have the ability to buy time. We must continually think how we should improve and improve at the speed of relevance so that our Sailors and Marines are always prepared to deliver the fight tonight and win.

Spencer additionally emphasized how learning and risk-taking play key roles in achieving such a vision.

"At every level, the Navy-Marine Corps team must be a continual learning organization, constantly challenging assumptions to find ways to increase readiness and lethality," he said. "We're migrating from a culture of risk eradication to one of understanding and managing risk while dynamically changing the way that we will meet the demands of the force."

Prior to Spencer's remarks, other military and civilian defense leadership conducted panels on expeditionary warfare, artificial intelligence and the modernization of military training.

During the expeditionary warfare panel, Rear Adm. Jim Kilby, director of warfare integration (N9I) explained that littoral combat ships (LCS), small surface vessels, unmanned surface and undersea vessels are all important procurements expeditionary forces need to shift the battle lines away from shore and align with the national defense strategy.

"In the Pentagon, as we talk about expeditionary operations, we don't view these amphibious platforms as just a transport ship or a truck," said Kilby. "They're much more than that. They provide access, maneuver, sustainment - with an airport, seaport, hospital - and a very capable combat systems suite. So those, in conjunction with things like the Joint Strike Fighter, are really changing the way we view those assets and how they would help us in this great power competition."

Kilby noted expeditionary advanced basing operations (EABO) are an important key to sustaining maritime superiority in the future.
"When you think about expeditionary advanced basing operations and the ability to use that exquisite sensor and weapons from remote land platforms, connected with the Navy, there's a powerful ability to sustain our forces in a contested environment." said Kilby.
"We should think of things in that advanced, integrated, connected mode of the ability to get to integrated fires across [the Navy and Marine Corps]. And those are the kinds of conversations I've had ... as we've advanced this thinking collectively as a Naval fight vice a Navy fight."

Panelists also discussed the evolving process of modernizing the Navy's training and its efforts to improve the reliability, accessibility, usability and convenience of personnel services for Sailors.
"When it comes to modernization, we know that Sailors do not learn better through PowerPoint slides," said Rear Adm. John Nowell, Jr., director of military personnel plans and policy (N13).
"It's more about: "Can they learn better on a device? Can they learn better digitally? Can they learn better virtually, or with an avatar?"

Part of that process includes transforming the Navy's human resource experience through consolidation, bringing a host of sites together under services like MyNavy Portal, MyNavy Career Center, the Advancement Dashboard and the Detailing Marketplace.

"We are taking a suite of systems that are not interoperable, and we are collapsing them into one family and then moving them to the cloud," said Nowell. "We are going to move [these systems] from behind a [common access card], allowing Sailors to access their records, negotiate their orders and do training from their own mobile device. It is about modernizing our personnel system to improve our training and career readiness where the Sailor is resilient, tough and has the support as we develop them as leaders."

Founded in 1965 and the largest maritime exposition in the United States, SAS brings together the U.S. defense industrial base, private sector U.S. companies and key military decision makers for an annual event to share the most current policies, programs, information and technology relevant to maritime service. SAS takes place May 6-8 and will include speaker and professional development sessions and dynamic maritime and defense exhibits on the latest technology and military equipment.

More information on the 2019 Sea Air Space Exposition can be found on the Navy Live blog
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