Adm. John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations, Chosen to 2017 Wash100 for Fleet Design & Arctic Strategy Leadership
Executive Mosaic is honored to announce Navy Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, as an inductee into the 2017 edition of the Wash100 — Executive Mosaic’s annual selection of influential leaders in the government contracting arena.
Richardson officially assumed his post as the country’s 31st CNO in September 2015 a month after he received Senate confirmation.
In January, the 35-year Navy veteran said that caution should be exercised when it comes to the replacement of existing ship designs, such as littoral combat ships, with new warships.
“LCS has got to compete (with alternatives) in my mind, but time is an element of that competition… We just can’t stop building stuff,” he told reporters.
Richardson released in October 2016 a framework that seeks to help increase the service branch’s civilian workforce.
“What it will do is charge each of those separate commands… they will be responsible for coming up with a strategy for making sure that the civilian part of their team is as well managed as the military part of their team,” he said in an interview with Federal News Radio.
A month prior to that, Richardson said at a Center for American Progress event that he thinks future ships should consider potential Arctic missions during the design phase amid budget challenges.
“The Arctic is going to be a different kind of a theater in the future, and if we neglect the fact that we’re going to be operating in the Arctic as we design this new class of ship, that’s just narrow thinking on our part,” he said at the time.
Richardson told USNI News in an August 2016 interview that the military branch should pursue rapid prototyping and experimentation efforts in its fleet of ships to address risks amid complex security environment and budgetary constraints.
He also noted at the McAleese/Credit Suisse FY 2017 Defense Programs Conference that the expansion of the Navy’s fire-control network could help the service branch operate in an environment where anti-ship cruise missiles are employed.
Earlier last year, Richardson said that future warships should have modular system design that can both back cyber and electronic warfare operations.
“That platform may last the life of a traditional ship, 25 to 30 years… but we have to make it very much more modular or adaptable to improving technologies,” he added.
He previously served as director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and held staff assignments such as director of strategy and policy at the Joint Forces Command and naval aide to the U.S. president.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Adm. John Richardson and the Navy team for their selection to receive this award.