Jim Roy and the Electric Boat Management Council (the men and women chiefly responsible today for building our national nuclear submarine fleet) invited me to speak at their monthly dinner about Intent to Deceive. Our original date was snowed out last month and the alternate was this past Tuesday evening.
This was a particularly enjoyable audience to speak with because of their shared responsibility for designing and building safety into the submarines America’s sailors subsequently sail into danger. This community as a whole understands they are fortunate to have their self-interests and livelihood coincide with a larger purpose that serves America’s interests.
We spoke of the critical role their predecessors had played in building the first nuclear submarine, in leading the way in the changing of the culture of the submarine force, and in many of the critical technology advances. In the question and answer period we also discussed that the country now faced similar questions to those that had led America to first build a powerful nuclear submarine force.