Released by Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division China Lake, California Public Affairs Office
By Lily Horton, DLAMP Site Coordinator, Employee Development Division

At a formal ceremony held in Crystal City, Virginia early in February, Jerry Smith became the first Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) employee to graduate from the Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Leadership and Management Program (DLAMP). Before an audience of friends, relatives and government officials, a graduating class of 74 civilians representing all branches of the military services, the intelligence communities, and DoD support functions received Certificates of Completion from Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy, Ms. Patricia Bradshaw. Other DoD officials in attendance were Assistant Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Gordon England; Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Francis J. Harvey; and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Honorable David S. C. Chu.

The DLAMP is the premier leader development program for senior Defense Department civilians and a key component of the department’s succession planning strategy. Initiated by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 and defined by the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces in 1995, its mission is to create a cadre of highly capable senior civilian leaders with a DoD-wide perspective, substantive knowledge of the national security mission, shared understanding, trust, and sense of mission with their military counterparts, and strong leadership and management skills.

Jerry Smith, head of NAWCWD’s Cost Analysis Department, spent five years in the program and earned two degrees, a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and an MBA from Regis University. Smith also completed leadership courses taught by the Office of Personnel Management and the University of Virginia, and added 15 graduate units in the field of public administration. His mentor throughout the program was NAWCWD’s former Executive Director, Dr. Karen Higgins.

Reflecting on his time in the program, Smith feels the highlight was his year spent at the Naval War College in Newport, RI. He recalls the 400-700 pages per week of reading required for a strategy course that covered one war per week, from the Peloponnesian War of 450BC through the Gulf War. He jokingly recalls the class motto: “It’s only a lot of reading if you do it.” Smith more seriously recalled that he “was there on 9/11. I can’t begin to adequately describe the sense of unity and determination I experienced among a group of the nation’s senior military officers and civilians from across the services.” Smith is particularly proud of the fact that he was the only civilian in his class to graduate with honors.

Reflecting on the goals of DLAMP, Smith believes it is important for every DoD employee, every member of the armed forces, and every defense contractor to have at least a basic understanding of the big picture with regard to our nation’s security. “You can’t possibly do your very best without knowing why you are doing it. Understanding the thought and decision processes happening at all levels of national security provides just that much more motivation and, maybe more important, a better ability to understand and accept those decisions that don’t necessarily help your own individual task.” While preparing a research paper at the Naval War College, Smith discovered a quote by Alfred Thayer Mahan, a brilliant naval strategist and Naval War College instructor at the end of the 19th century. Smith refers to the quote to remind himself and others that we are all part of a much bigger machine, merely a cog in the overall security of our nation:

“All the world knows, gentlemen, that we are building a new navy-the process has begun, is going on, and its long continuance is an avowed purpose. We are to have a navy adequate to the sense of our needs; and that sense is bound to expand as our people appreciate more and more, as they are beginning to realize more and more, that a country’s power and influence must depend upon her hold upon regions without her own borders, and to which the sea leads.”

Alfred Thayer Mahan to the U.S. Naval War College, 1892

PHOTO CUTLINE########

Ms. Patricia Bradshaw (left), Under Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy, presents the Defense Leadership and Management Program (DLAMP) Certificate of Completion to Mr. Jerry Smith, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif. Smith was the only civilian in his DLAMP class to graduate with honors.