Good morning, everyone! Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you all today in Newport. I love coming up here and it is really a pleasure and truly an honor.

Admiral Walker, Provost Mariano, thank you again for the opportunity to be here and congratulations to you, Admiral Walker, for taking the helm of this truly impactful institution, which for over 140 years has been our Navy’s “home of thought.” 

And I do want to also thank you and the Naval War College board of trustees for honoring me with the Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award. You know when I was a student at the College of Distance Education many, many years ago, there’s no way that I could ever imagine that I would be joining the long list of remarkable recipients of this award. It is truly humbling, and again, thank you very much.

To all the students here at the War College, congratulations to each of you on your selection to attend this school, which for decades has taught, educated, and inspired our most visionary minds and leaders. I hope that each one of you is thoroughly enjoying your time here. I think it really offers a rare opportunity to step back from your regular jobs and spend some time thinking and also learning with an incredible group of faculty and amazing peers that you get to sit around and think with, talk with, learn with – and talk about what does the future look like for each one of our services as we go forward.

And to the faculty and staff here today, thank you very much for building on the legacy of the war college. Each of you – it’s your courses, your research, your analysis, your wargaming -  creates leaders who can think, act, and operate differently and who are more ready when they leave here to fight and win.

I know as Admiral Walker mentioned we have a lot of other people from around Newport, we have some P-COs, P-XOs, Major Commanders, base leadership, NLEC… I just want to take a step back and thank all of you and those that you represent for your service and for your sacrifice.

What you do matters every single day to our Navy, to our Joint force, and to our Nation. And, when you go home today, or when you go off on your lunch break, I want you to extend my thanks to your families, or whatever your support network is, for what they do every day to support you. For their own service and their sacrifice. Because I know that none of us could do what we do every day – for our Nation – without their support.

You know, as the Chief of Naval Operations my job is to man, train, and equip the Navy to meet our congressionally mandated Title X mission, which is “to provide for the peacetime promotion of the national security interests and prosperity of the United States, and for prompt and sustained combat incident to operations at sea.” I take this responsibility very seriously.

And so earlier this year, I released America’s Warfighting Navy to convey a unifying vision for our Navy that can be understood by every member of our team. It laid out my primary focus areas of warfighting, warfighters, and the foundation that supports them to get us after that vision. It talked about who we are, what we do, and where we’re going.

And, to further define that last piece, the “where we are going,” I knew that we needed to take a fix. We needed to understand our true position so we could better understand where we need to go. And that’s what I’ve been doing since I became the CNO. I’ve visited every Fleet, I’ve met with our Sailors and civilians, I’ve engaged with industry, I’ve met with Members of Congress, I met with Chiefs of Defense and Heads of Navy all around the world.

And from what I have seen as I’ve gone around the world, fills me with great confidence. I know that our Navy has made significant progress since the 2022 Navigation Plan was released.

We are internally disciplined, we’re data-driven, we’re focused on the future of the Navy. We are defending American national security interests around the world, in the Indo-Pacific, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, in the Red Sea, everything in between. And in the Red Sea we’re knocking down hundreds of Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles, Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vehicles with an intensity not seen since World War II. 

And, we have energized our cycle of innovation with the Navy now in the lead across the Joint force in operationalizing robotic and autonomous systems.

I could not be more proud of our amazing Navy team our active and reserve Sailors, our civilians, and our families. There is no other Navy in the world that can operate at the scale we do. No other Navy can train, deploy, and sustain such a lethal, globally deployed, combat-credible force at the pace, the scale, and the tempo that we do.

But we can’t take our foot off the gas because there is no doubt that our Nation is at an inflection point in history.

We are facing a changing security environment, a changing character of war, and real challenges in platform construction and maintenance, munitions production, recruiting, and infrastructure, all while acknowledging the industrial and budgetary constraints that complicate our ability to address these challenges.

When you look at the global security environment, it’s pretty clear that the world has changed. As you’ve been learning here, the rules-based international order that we have upheld, protected, and defended for over three-quarters of a century is under threat in every corner of the globe.

The People’s Republic of China is our pacing challenge and a complex, multi-domain and multi-axis threat. I am eyes wide-open to the challenge posed by the PRC. It’s a challenge to our Navy that goes well beyond just the size of the [PLAN] fleet. It includes grey zone and economic campaigns, expansion of dual use infrastructure like airfields and dual use forces like the Chinese maritime militia, and a growing nuclear arsenal.

It is backed by a massive defense industrial base, which is on a wartime footing and includes the world’s largest shipbuilding capacity. The growing capabilities, capacity, and reach of the PRC military alongside its aggressive behavior in the East and South China Seas underscore what Chairman Xi told his forces, that they should be ready for war by 2027.

The PRC is not our only competitor though. Russia continues to be an acute threat and Iran is a destabilizing actor in the Middle East. And we can never take our eye off Violent Extremist organizations and globally sponsored terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, ISIS-K, and many, many more.

And, in ways we have not seen before, this group of malign actors is strengthening its linkages as well as the DPRK, Iran… providing munitions [to] the PRC providing dual-use components like drone and missile technology to Russia. And supporting Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine.

In addition to this dynamic security environment, we see advancements in battlefield innovation with profound implications for the changing character of war. Cheaper, more accessible technology is pushing asymmetric capability, at a lower cost, to state and non-state actors alike.

Over the last two years, the Ukrainian Navy has used a combination of missiles, robotic surface vessels, and agile digital capabilities to deny the Russian Navy use of the western Black Sea and threaten Russia’s supply lines to its occupying forces in Crimea.

And, Houthi forces, equipped by Iran and emboldened by Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel nearly a year ago, have repeatedly targeted merchant shipping along a key maritime chokepoint and created massed effects through its mix of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones against the U.S. and partner navies at sea.

We have learned a great deal about the future of war at sea, including the role of robotic platforms, cheaper munitions, and disaggregated forces in gaining and exploiting sea control.

What further complicates our ability to address these challenges – the changing security environment, the changing character of war – is our own domestic financial and industrial headwinds in getting more players on the field.

Our budget falls short of the 3-5% increase above inflation that we need to be able to build and support a larger, more lethal fleet. And, although we are investing resources into our industrial base challenges, those changes are not gonna happen overnight.

So, all of this. This changing security environment, the changing character of war, and our own challenges, provides the context that frames my own thinking on where our Navy needs to go.

As the CNO who is going to be at the helm into 2027, I am compelled to do more, and do more faster, to ensure that our Navy is more ready. We can’t stand still as we work to secure those long-term investments for the force.

And, so today, as Admiral Walker said, I am releasing my Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy – it’s my overarching strategic guidance to make our Navy more ready, prioritizing raising our level of readiness for potential conflict with the People’s Republic of China by 2027 while also enhancing the Navy’s long-term warfighting advantage.

Building on America’s Warfighting Navy that I released back in January and continuing where my predecessor’s Navigation Plan left off, NAVPLAN 2024 sets our course to raise our Fleet’s baseline level of readiness and put more ready Players on the Field - platforms that are ready with the requisite capabilities, weapons, and sustainment and people that are ready with the right mindset, skills, tools, and training.

We will do that first by implementing Project 33. Seven key areas of acceleration – areas that I will personally invest my time and resources and put my thumb on the scale to move the needle. Project 33 is a reference to my place as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations in the continuum of past and future Navy leaders.

Second, we’re gonna do that by expanding the Navy’s contribution to the Joint Warfighting Ecosystem, which is fundamental to my vision of how we will deter and if necessary, fight and win our future wars.

Each Project 33 target is assigned to a single accountable individual and has a specific, measurable, time-bound objective, which will enable me to regularly monitor and assess our progress towards achieving that objective.

Each target drives us towards our North Star, which is: by 2027, the Navy will be more ready for sustained combat, prioritizing the People’s Republic of China as the pacing challenge and focusing on expanding the Navy’s contribution to the Joint warfighting ecosystem.

Reaching this North Star means that we will be more ready to execute relevant operational plans with the ready platforms, people, and weapons needed to sustain decisive combat operations.

So, let me just briefly touch on these seven equally important project 33 targets as they align to my priorities of warfighting, warfighters, and the foundation that supports them.

Under warfighting, my first Project 33 target is readying our platforms. My second target, operationalizing robotic and autonomous systems. My third target, fighting from the Maritime Operations Center - our command-and-control nerve center that synchronizes effects – that is how we will fight as a Fleet. Under the warfighters bucket, my fourth target is recruiting and retaining talented people. My fifth target is delivering the Quality of Service that our Sailors and their families deserve. My sixth target is investing in warfighter competency, making our Live, Virtual, and Constructive training as reliable, realistic, and relevant as possible. And in the foundation bucket, my seventh target is restoring the critical infrastructure that generates, sustains, and postures the force to fight, prioritizing the Pacific theatre.

Together, these seven targets represent my plan to make strategic gains in the fastest time possible with the resources I can influence. These are stretch goals, some of you may have heard me say before the BHAG (big, hairy, audacious, goal), these are stretch goals, and I know that hitting them will require a substantial effort.  

But I also know that moving out with purpose and urgency on these targets will deter the PRC and any other potential adversary and make us even more ready to fight and win decisively should that deterrence fail.

Executing this plan is critical in expanding our Navy’s contribution to the Joint and Combined Force because we know that our Navy will never fight alone.

We are laser-focused on integrating our capabilities with those of our Joint and Combined teammates because it’s the aggregate effects that we collectively deliver that will matter in a future fight.

The joint warfighting ecosystem is all about creating those aggregate effects. It is a system in which the Navy contributes layered capabilities across all domains to those of the Joint Force, our Allies, and our partners. And it is an ecosystem where the Information Warfare domain is critically important, and Information Warfare delivers effects on par with those delivered by our aircraft, our ships, and our submarines.

When you think of the joint warfighting ecosystem, just think about how our carrier air wings can strike targets thanks to cyber and space effects delivered by Air Force and Space Force capabilities. Think about how our destroyers can shoot missiles against targets detected and tracked by Marine Corps, Army, Special Operations Forces, or Allied sensors.

It is a system that enables and is enabled by each one of its participants. It’s one that is on display right now in the Middle East. And I see it as fundamental to Admiral Paparo’s planning for a potential fight against the PRC in the Indo-Pacific.

This guidance that I’m putting out today does not represent a radically new plan, rather it is an acceleration of ongoing efforts using the levers that we already have, like the 2022 Navigation Plan and the NAVPLAN Implementation Framework. The PRC does not get a new plan every four years. They have one plan through 2050, and they are accelerating on it. We must do the same.

I know that much of my focus during the remainder of my tenure as CNO must be on prioritizing our near-term readiness so our Navy can continue to preserve the peace, respond in crisis, and win decisively in war if called to do so.

We will make hard choices to use the resources entrusted to us focused on readiness, capability, and capacity in that order, while we continue to advocate for a larger, more lethal fleet so the Navy can meet our missions in all phases of competition. 

 

This prioritization is a function of our moment in history and our constraints. Navigation Plan 2024 puts us on a course and speed to deliver the most readiness we can in the shortest time possible.

 

But, achieving a heightened state of readiness for the Navy by 2027 is not an end in and of itself. We will not “optimize” the force for a single point in time—by nature that risks replicating the challenges we are wrestling with today.

 

As the CNO, I am uniquely responsible for ensuring that our Navy remains dominant across all time horizons. The very motivation behind Project 33 calls to mind each CNO’s obligation to articulate a vision that outlives their tenure. And I am committed to leaving CNO 34 with a thoughtful blueprint for the future Navy.

Achieving these objectives in this NAVPLAN is not gonna happen without each and every one of you, America’s Warfighting Navy. This is an all hands on deck effort, where everyone has a role to play. I know that NAVPLAN 2024 may seem far removed from the work that you do every day, but everything in it is designed to give you - our true secret weapon - all that you need to be able to be the best warfighters that you can be.

It also cannot be achieved without the support our Joint teammates, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard and our Combined teammates – Allies and partners all around the world – so many of you here today, who are absolutely critical to enabling our Joint and Combined force to be able to deliver the effects we need to at the time and place of our choosing.

So, I ask that all of you go back, read America’s Warfighting Navy and then read the NAVPLAN so you can understand your role in getting after what our Nation needs us to do today and in the future.

There are 835 days until 1 January 2027. America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our national security interests, and preserve our way of life.

The clock is ticking. Let’s get after it.  

Thank you very much.