Get to Know CAPT John Tully, Foreign Area Officer Warfare Chair and Navy Senior Service Representative
Edited from an interview published by the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation & Alumni Association
Captain John Tully is a U.S. Navy Foreign Area Officer and currently serves as the Navy FAO Chair. He also leads Coalition Warfare-related Research as part of the Naval Warfare Studies Institute. He is a 2001 alum of NPS with a Master of Arts in National Security Affairs.
Tully’s most recent assignment was as the Director, Africa Engagement Group and Africa Campaign Integration at Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa.
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As the FAO Warfare Chair, you are aligned underneath both the Department of National Security Affairs and the Naval Warfare Studies Institute. What are your goals as the FAO Chair and how have they evolved over the last year?
In general, I try to build the connectivity between FAO students at NPS and the operational fleet and joint force. This is a connection that can help in both directions.
- The fleets get access to a body of FAO students who can help address their challenges. At the same time, the FAO students gain a better understanding of the problems facing our operational forces and the challenges they will be tasked to deal with after graduation.
- In the end, both the fleet/joint force and the FAO students win because we end up with officers who are better informed and connected with today’s challenges.
Your roles as FAO Warfare Chair and as a Senior Service Representative emphasize a strong connection between the NPS campus and operational units. Can you provide insights into the strategies or initiatives you've been involved in to foster this connection and ensure that NPS remains responsive to the evolving needs of the Navy and the Joint Force?
The key initiative here is certainly the Naval Warfare Studies Institute. This is an NPS organization established specifically to manage the links between the school and the fleet.
- It leverages the faculty and student research capabilities of NPS to connect the Fleet to industry and research capabilities to address current operational challenges.
Throughout your career as a FAO, how have you observed the dynamics of Great Power Competition evolving, especially in your areas of focus such as Africa?
For the first part of my FAO career, our engagement in Africa was heavily focused on peacekeeping and combating violent extremism.
- The change in priority and focus was laid bare to me during my time as Senior Defense Official in Djibouti as we witnessed the construction and opening of the first Peoples Republic of China overseas base.
That event really drove home to policy makers the seriousness of the changes afoot in the global security order.
- We were forced to deal with the fact that a strategic competitor could impact our ability to conduct operations critical to safeguarding U.S. domestic security. Their proximity to our base in Djibouti, which we were using to support combat readiness of ships, aircraft, and personnel conducting operations throughout the region, was a real eye-opener.
In what ways have you personally benefited from interacting with students from partner nations during your time at NPS -- both as a student and as faculty?
In my current position, I love having international students in my class. My teaching focuses on Security Sector Assistance. Having a foreign perspective from someone on the “receiving end” of our assistance and cooperation programs adds untold value to the educational experience.
- My international students never disappoint and always bring up new, and often difficult, perspectives.
Read his full interview with the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation & Alumni Association.
Sea Strike 2043: Imagining the AI-Powered Navy of the Future
Organized by the Office of Research & Innovation, NPS hosted a facilitated showing of the short film Sea Strike 2043 on October 18.
- The 11-minute film was created by Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC PAC) and the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) to demonstrate a futuristic world where artificial intelligence is fully utilized to Naval advantage.
- The entire film production took place over two years and included in-depth collaboration between Naval leaders and writers, three days of filming, and six months of special effects work.
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Why it matters: NPS students and faculty who see potential or already integrate AI in their research were extremely motivated to see a realized version of their efforts in action.
- “It was great to see the human and machine relationship depicted extremely well and how that can be leveraged in a maritime environment,” said one Marine Corps Captain studying Information Systems Management at NPS. “Many people are doing this now at home, and some of us are using AI in an academic environment, with our AI models being used to supplement our understanding of information. With this film, it's great to see it visually in a more warfare-centric environment versus [for an] academic grade.”
In addition to the creative and clever movie, those who attended were privileged to engage with its creators and hear the stories behind the story.
- This conversation added more links to a vast professional network consisting of NPS students, faculty, the Naval Warfare Centers, University Affiliated Research Centers, Systems Commands, the Service Headquarters, industry, and the Fleet.
How it works: The film is not publicly available and is always shown in person with NIWC PAC and NAWCWD representatives to facilitate dialogue. This process increases the film’s impact with specific audiences. For example, new hires at NIWC PAC watch the film to get inspired about AI research, conversation, and integration between military leaders.
- At the NPS screening, these representatives led a short pre- and post- film lecture. The energetic Q&A engaged over 50 attendees in a conversation about the integration and future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Naval warfare.
Informing future assignments: Jordan Brown recently joined NPS as part of the Diversity STEM Scholarship for Service program. After studying Space Systems Engineering for two years, he will work for NIWC PAC. He attended the event to connect with his future employer and was impressed by the vision represented.
- “I didn't expect to see the mission of what they will be working on for the next 20 years,” Brown said. “In my opinion, it’s very good that they're thinking about what might happen in the future. Whenever you think about the future, it creates a constant pipeline of innovation.”
The NWSI Impact: The NWSI team helped facilitate this screening as part of our commitment to ensuring NPS education remains an investment in our most important combat advantage – critical thinkers and learning leaders. To “fire effectively first,” 21st century warfighters must increasingly “think effectively first.”
What’s next: To develop our officers’ ability to envision potential future combat scenarios, NWSI is working with the Office of Research & Innovation to plan more events like this screening that connect NPS to the larger naval innovation ecosystem.
Event Recap: Drone Warfare in the Russo-Ukraine War
At last week’s Seapower Conversation on Autonomous Systems in the Russo-Ukraine war, Professor Don Brutzman discussed the innovative use of drones and commercial robotic technology to alter the nature of the battlefield in ways that have provided surprise advantages and challenges.
He charted how research and education at NPS is already engaging with and informing this 21st century warfare, referencing several ongoing team projects.
- A few students briefed their research, including one team exploring the use of the Switchblade 600 drone in near-future combat scenarios.
Brutzman noted the relevance of other NPS activities including NWSI’s Warfare Innovation Continuum, which is focused this year on integrated naval campaigning—a topic that specifically considers how the integration of robots and drones into naval units and formations might fundamentally change the character of war in the future.
Brutzman also shared a bibliography of current resources on autonomous systems in the Russo-Ukraine war compiled by NPS librarian Greta Marlatt. It lists 11 completed student theses, 12 articles, and four reports and documents.
- Just as one example, a 2023 student thesis explores what the US Marine Corps stand-in forces can learn about Ukraine’s use of commercial satellite communications, including for autonomous system command and control.
Review the whole collection.
WIC Workshop Kicks Off NPS’ Annual Innovation Continuum
Rosemary Mena-Werth, Naval Postgraduate School
In today’s era of strategic competition, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps understand that innovation is a key to success in the maritime warfighting domain. To that end, every year the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) brings together representatives from the fleet, service headquarters, the Naval Research and Development Establishment, and industry to work with NPS students and faculty at the Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC) Workshop, one of the pillars of the NPS innovation process. Read more.
Improve the Culture and Mechanisms of Naval Learning, Center for International Maritime Security
Commander Art Valeri (current NPS student)
The “Get Real Get Better” campaign initiated a transformative process to address performance shortfalls in the spirit of increasing readiness. However, the practical method of achieving that readiness deserves more attention in considering broad naval mission sets and thoughtfully influencing change within the Navy. Read more.
Sailors Matter Most: Incentivize Education and Cultivate Learning Leaders, Center for International Maritime Security
Sean F. X. Barrett, Mie Augier, and William F. Mullen, III (NPS alum and current professors)
Calls for innovation, technological development, and establishing new organizations are commonplace across the national security enterprise. Indeed, integrating emerging technologies into formations by seeking new ideas, evaluating them with a rigorous process, and learning from the feedback is crucial to the continued viability of warfighting organizations. Such calls, however, tend to portray new technologies and weapons systems as panaceas to great power challenges while paying less attention to the importance of developing the warfighters who will actually employ them. Read more.
NPS Stackable Graduate Certificates Give Student Naval Aviators A Head Start Matthew Schehl, Naval Postgraduate School
This summer, NPS began offering distance learning (DL) certificates to more than 100 Student Naval Aviators (SNAs) who are in the pipeline to attend flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Pursuing full-time academic certificates optimizes the ensigns’ waiting time and gives them a leg up on promotion requirements later in their careers. It also helps extend reach and access to NPS education for the Naval Aviation community, which has long been under-represented at NPS due to a rigorous training timeline. Read more.
NPS Team Makes Key Breakthrough on Path to Electric Aircraft Propulsion
Rosemary Mena-Werth
As an institution renowned for innovation efforts grounded in education and research, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has often been called upon to tackle some of the most difficult technological challenges facing the Navy and the nation. Such a challenge emerged in 2020, when NASA charged NPS and two other research teams with solving a critical barrier facing the development of electric aircraft propulsion (EAP): the creation of a circuit breaker that could support large electric platforms running on direct current (DC) electricity. Thanks to the efforts of a diverse team of faculty and students, as well as several Navy and academic research partners, NPS delivered an innovative working prototype. Read more.
JIFX 24-2
Event Focus Area: Multi-Domain Unmanned Systems & Countermeasures
5–9 February 2024
Submission deadline: 10 November 2023
Seapower Conversations Series on Innovation in Combat: Insights from the Russo-Ukraine War
“Decoys and deception”
Presented by Dr. Chris Paul, the Shea U.S. Marine Corps Chair for Information
15 November 2023 | 1200-1300 PT
NPS Campus Dudley Knox Library and on MS Teams
“Military use of Starlink and commercial space capabilities”
Presented by Wenschel Lan, Senior Lecturer in the Space Systems Academic Group 29 November 2023 | 1200-1300 PT
NPS Campus Dudley Knox Library and on MS Teams
“The impact of missiles”
Presented by John Hammerer, Professor of the Practice in Physics and Chair, Integrated Air and Missile Defense
13 December 2023 | 1200-1300
NPS Campus Dudley Knox Library and on MS Teams
Naval AI Summit
4-8 December 2023
Glasgow 109 on the NPS campus
21st Annual Acquisition Research Symposium
May 8-9, 2024
This year our symposium takes up the theme of “Resourcing Innovation.” We are especially interested in papers that consider challenges and successes in providing the right resources – to include not just funding, but also people, training, acquisition authorities, time, supply chains, etc. – that can generate, transition, and deliver new warfighting capabilities and strategies.
As always, we welcome a wide range of papers sharing research of interest to the larger acquisition community.
Proposals are due by November 29, 2023.
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