The following is the Naval Education Strategy 2023 overview released on June 23, 2023.
From the report
The Navy and Marine Corps team must be ready to compete, fight, and win whenever and wherever the Nation requires. The DON’s strategic focus is to increase naval competitive advantage to effectively deter aggression and succeed in long-term competition that challenges our national security, and to ensure that our naval forces succeed across the full spectrum of conflict. We are transforming the Department’s culture, processes, and education programs to ensure that we become a more adaptive learning organization, a necessity to remain the world’s preeminent naval force. We must continue to recruit, educate, train, and retain a more diverse, professional military and civilian workforce to achieve decisive advantage in this complex and rapidly changing global security environment.
Competitors and adversaries with growing technological capabilities and contending interests are increasing their influence on complex global security and economic systems that threaten our country and interests abroad. Additionally, the effects of a changing climate and other forces are challenging geopolitical stability, opening the Arctic to naval operations, and challenging the resilience of our installations and facilities. Therefore, we need to further develop our people – both military members and government civilians – to out-think our adversaries, better enable informed decision making, and be more prepared for future challenges.
The United States and our allies can no longer assume technological advantage over adversaries. We must ensure that we continuously hone both our intellectual and technological capabilities to prevail over near-peer competitors. Our warfighters and DON civilians must continuously seek new ways to gain advantage and create a continuum of learning to prevail in complex operational environments along the full spectrum of competition and conflict. Continuous learning enables our force to quickly recognize changing conditions, adapt, and make timely decisions to counter threats and adversaries, enabling the Department to effectively develop new ways to succeed.
The DON will take an integrated, enterprise-wide approach to improve naval education and prioritize programs that are critical for a competitive warfighting advantage. We will provide a range of learning opportunities for Sailors, Marines, and our civilian workforce to further develop professional competencies and intellectual skills that enable us to succeed against competitors and adversaries. Naval education curricula, research, and experiential learning all contribute to the total force’s professional development—and all need to continuously evolve to ensure that our personnel have the competencies to succeed against any challenge. Our Nation’s maritime defense requires the DON to attract talented individuals and develop the most professional, strategic-minded, critical thinking, innovative, and adaptive naval forces in the world. This expectation for intellectual and professional development across the force is repeatedly emphasized in our national defense and security strategies and is included in senior Department leadership guidance.
To sharpen our force’s competitive edge and succeed in future conflicts, we will create a continuum of learning across the Department. For Sailors and Marines, this means emphasizing the importance of professional military education (PME) to cultivate the art and science of warfighting, deepen our knowledge of history, seek opportunities to learn new skills, and embrace new techniques and technologies to counter competitors. Education opportunities also build trust and reinforce interoperability across the force, to include the Joint Force and allied and partner forces, as we counter threats and aggression together. For DON civilians, it means that they have access to education opportunities to obtain relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies to remain at the forefront of their professional fields and further contribute to the DON mission.
Download the document here.
