Monday, February 15, 2016

February 2016 Update

Here is a quick mid-month update, with information about the next Seattle Base meeting and other upcoming events and other items of interest.

Reminder, the February meeting has been cancelled. The next meeting will be March 16, 2016. We hope to see you there.

2016 USSVI Awards Nominations are Open
The 2016 National USSVI Awards Nomination Process started at the beginning of February. Please take a moment to look over the awards and consider nominating a shipmate or a Base for an award for all the good things this shipmate or Base did during 2015.
Let’s acknowledge and reward our shipmates for a job well done by nominating them an Award. Please review the manual and follow the directions.

The Awards Manual can be found on the USSVI website or at this link.

The 2016 Awards on Schedule and Process Timeline:
  • FEBRUARY 1, 2016: All USSVI Members in good standing can begin to submit their award nominations to National Awards Committee Chairman John Stanford.
  • APRIL 30, 2016: All Award nominations (with exception of Newsletter Award) must be received by the National Awards Committee Chairman. The deadline for submission for the Newsletters for Newsletter of the Year Award is MAY 15.

Have You Ever Wondered: Where is Your Boat Today?
The Sea Poacher (SS-406) Association has created a DVD where you can find the answer to the status (as it exists) of every U.S. submarine from World War II to the present day of early 2016. Most of the information is not new, but it takes a great deal of effort and time to find it. Now this has been done by the Sea Poacher Association has researched and collated the information into one document that should be of interest to every submariner.

This listing and status includes information on over 600 boats. It starts with the 52 boats lost in the war with Japan and the full 25 museum boats. This is followed by a complete listing of diesel submarines that were scrapped and that have parts such as sails, conning towers, periscopes, screws, and other items preserved at locations in the U.S. and abroad. There is information on nuclear submarines that have been recycled, as well as those currently awaiting their fate. It also includes a comprehensive list of over 80 submarines that were transferred to foreign countries, including their disposition, fate, or establishment as a memorial. Finally, there is an account of the dozens of submarines that were sunk as targets or in other unusual events.

Where is Your Boat Today? It can be ordered at $20 each or for orders of five or more to one specific submarine organization address, we can reduce the shipping costs and make it only $17 a copy. See this link for more information about this and for ordering information.

TRIAD Symposium in Silverdale WA on March 11
I'm Peter Huessy. Since 1983 I've been hosting a Congressional Breakfast seminar series in Washington DC on our nation’s strategic modernization, missile defense, space, counter-proliferation, defense policy and arms control agenda. We have over that period held some 1500 such seminars. In 2012, I decided to expand the series and host annually a TRIAD conference in Washington, D.C. and one at a nuclear-related military base elsewhere in the country. This is the tenth Triad event in the series and it is scheduled for March 11, 2016 in Washington State next to the Navy submarine base. My main partners in this effort are the Air Force Association, National Defense Industries Association, the Reserve Officers Association, and many of our leading Defense contractors with the cooperation of the US Navy and US Air Force.

I want to invite you and the members of SUBVETS and the Kitsap Chapter of MOAA to a conference/symposium on the Benefits of Strategic Deterrence that I am putting on in your area from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Friday March 11, 2016. It will be held at the Silverdale Beach Hotel, 3073 NW Bucklin Hill Road, Silverdale, WA 98383, near to the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in cooperation with the US Navy. Rooms are blocked for the event.

After the close of the session on Friday afternoon, U.S. citizen participants will have an opportunity to tour an in-port fleet ballistic missile submarine (space is limited). That evening we will have a reception at the hotel.

Below is a copy of the agenda. Among our distinguished speakers are: Admiral Richard Haney, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command; Vice Admiral Terry Benedict, Director, Navy Strategic Systems Programs; Rear Admiral David Kriete, Commander, Submarine Group 9; Maj Gen Michael Fortney, Vice Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command; Lt Gen Jack Weinstein, the USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence, and Brad Roberts, Director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

We are organizing this event in cooperation with the Naval Submarine League Pacific Northwest Chapter and Puget Sound Naval Bases Association. Our supporting sponsors to date include Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop-Grumman, Textron, General Dynamics and Task Force 21 - Minot, ND.

Separately, I will be sending you an email from Constant Contact with a link to register for the March 11 conference/symposium. The invite goes out twice a week. I would appreciate if you would click on the "forward this email" button at the bottom of your invite letter and forward it to your members. Those who register for the conference will be sent instructions on how to sign up for the SSBN tour from my colleague Brian Moran. And Brian can help you with getting a copy of the link to also send to you colleagues and friends.

There is no cost to attend the event. Our caterer and associated costs are being covered by our supporting sponsors. If your group would like to be listed as a supporting sponsor, I would be delighted to chat with you about a contribution to the event where your member attendees could provide such support. Our goal has been to work with the local community around our nuclear enterprise bases, plus their Congressional delegation, the military and civilian work force, the related industry, think tanks and public policy organizations that deal with nuclear issues, as well as the Administration and Congress as a whole, together providing for the nation’s security and supporting the nuclear deterrent enterprise.

Sincerely,
Peter Huessy
Senior Defense Consultant, Air Force Association,
Phuessy@afa.org or 240-401-1043

AFA-NDIA-ROA: The Benefits of Strategic Nuclear Deterrence: Modernizing the Triad and Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise, March 11, 2016, Bangor, Washington

When: Friday March 11, 2016 from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM PST

Location: - Silverdale Beach Hotel Ballroom, 3073 NW Bucklin Hill Road, Silverdale, Washington, 98383

Agenda:
  • 7:30-8:00 Registration and Buffet Breakfast
  • 8:05-8:15 Welcoming Remarks from Rear Admiral David Kriete, Commander, Submarine Group 9.
  • 8:15-8:20 Introductory Remarks by Peter Huessy, President, Geo-Strategic Analysis, and Senior Defense Consultant, Mitchell Institute, Air Force Association.
  • 8:20-9:05 Brad Roberts, Lawrence Livermore National Lab – “The Case for Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century.”
  • 9:05-10:00 Maj. Gen. Michael Fortney, USAF, Vice Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command.
  • 10:00-11:00 Vice Admiral Terry Benedict, Director, SSP : ORP update; Navy-Air Force collaboration on strategic systems and UK Trident replacement)
  • 11:05--11:20 break
  • 11:20-12:40 Panel: Todd Harrison, Director, Defense Budget Analysis, CSIS; Dan Goure, Vice President, Lexington Institute; Mathew Kroenig, Associate Professor, Department of Government and School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; and Rebecca Hersman, Director, CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI).
  • 12:45-1:15 Break and Lunch Buffet
  • 1:15-2:00 Luncheon Keynote - Admiral Cecil Haney, Commander of US Strategic Command: "Strategic Deterrence in an Uncertain World"
  • 2:00-3:00 Lt Gen Jack Weinstein, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, USAF Headquarters: "The Value of ICBMs and Bombers: Communicating Strategic Requirements".