(Bethesda Naval Hospital before base consolidation with Walter Reed). We talked about the insurrection of the Navy’s flag officers the other day. It was part of something larger, of course, and simultaneously smaller in contrast to the struggle of the war. Like you, the writers on the Patio have been thrilled since we realized that […]

As you might expect, talk about the current hotspots of conflict have led to discussion of where this ball of crisis is going. Some of us think it is like President Xi’s Belt-and-Road Initiative. With luck, we will be able to avoid an atomic exchange between the various Nuclear Powers or almost Powers in mass […]

(President Harry Truman Appoints SECNAV James V. Forrestall as first Secretary of Defense. Photo AP). In 1947, President Harry Truman appointed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. Forrestal had three or four areas of controversy with the Administration. First was the amount of money the new unified Department would spend to clean […]

We nearly had a revolt of our own out on The Patio. Not that there were any Flag or General Officers involved. It was mmore of a vigorous debate about what was happening in our Navy today. you know, the one that commissions a whole class of ships and retires them nearly as fast as […]

(President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on board this aircraft, a VC-54C Presidential transport, the first aircraft used in the role of Air Fore ONE). We have wrestled with telling the story of how the Department of War and the Navy were disestablished and re-invented in 1947 alongside a brand new Department […]

Present Day: We have snow lingering through the weekend. The meteorologists claim it will be 60 degrees by the end of the week. We have a third war breaking out in the Red Sea, an unexpected development that is going to shift all sort of resources all over the world. We thought you might enjoy […]

(E. Jean Carroll is cross examined on Thursday, January 18. Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg/Reuters). Good morning, Gentle Readers! We rolled out a strategy for staggering through the next ten months to the General Election on 05 November 2024. To do so, we examined the agendas for the two major parties and the events scheduled […]

Rest in Peace to: LCDR Terry Wilton, USN-Ret.  NIP Executive Director Terry Wilton Passes Away at Age 68 It is with heavy hearts that we got the sad news from the Naval Intelligence Professionals (NIP) to announce the passing of our dear friend and shipmate, retired Lieutenant Commander Terry Wilton, 68, on 15 January 2024 […]

Sorry for the length of this piece, but it is intended as a navigational trip down the rapids of the next ten months and to integrate the related legal proceedings that are timed for highest negative impact. New Year, new Games! We re not sure how you are doing. Here in the Writer’s Section on […]