A Cyber Force for Persistent Operations

Harvard's Samuel Huntington, then just 27, asked the US Navy in 1954, What function do you perform which obligates society to assume responsibility for your maintenance?" His seminal article in the US Naval Institute's Proceedings argued that the basis of a military Service--or any military element--is its purpose or role in implementing national policy. Huntington called this a Service's "strategic concept," which justifies public support by explaining how, when, and where that military arm expects to protect the Nation. The Navy subsequently developed a transoceanic strategic concept, orienting the Service away from contesting the oceans and toward projecting power across them to distant land masses. In adapting its strategic concept to reflect changes in threats and national policy, the Navy ensured public confidence and support from Congress. The Navy's new strategic role endured through the Cold War, helping the United States maintain the forces that contained Soviet power and ensuring that America was so strong at sea that Moscow never seriously contemplated building fleets to rival ours.