There is a communications gap between the Navy and Congress that appears to grow wider each day, as service officials testify on the 2006 shipbuilding plan, and congressional leaders attempt to steer the Navy in a direction different from its current course. It is unlikely the gap can be closed by more discussion, studies or memos, because it was not caused by the lack of attempts to communicate. The problem is that the Navy has for years been sending a message that Congress does not want to hear. Changing national security requirements, a Navy that is far more productive than even a decade ago and the application of new technologies to future platforms mean the service will need different kinds of ships and fewer of them. The Navy is putting an emphasis on war-fighting capabilities rather than numbers of platforms; the fleet is shrinking and the service is cutting its personnel ranks by almost 10 percent. Over time, that means fewer ships to build and fewer jobs in the shipyards to build them. But powerful lawmakers from states that boast large but struggling shipyards keep asking the Navy for a different message containing different numbers.
展开▼
