If a Marine general can lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff, why not the Naval Academy?

President Obama has nominated Marine General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his nomination is being considered now in Congress. If approved, Dunford would the second Marine to hold this top military post.

But, no Marine has ever been superintendent of the Naval Academy. Perhaps it’s time that tradition give way, just a little, to progress, and that a Marine also be considered for the top post at Annapolis.

{mosads}The Naval Academy has an illustrious history, having educated and trained students for action as officers since 1845. As the prowess and stature of the Academy has progressed, it too has had to change. Decisions to enroll women and actively recruit minority students and faculty, curricular expansions and other major advances have made the school richer. Yet there remains one outworn tradition that has not changed, but should.

Though the Marine Corps is an integral part of the Department of the Navy, and many prominent Naval Academy Midshipmen have been selected as Marine second lieutenants upon graduation, no Marine officer has ever been chosen for the Academy’s top position, superintendent. The tradition has been since 1864 that the superintendent be a naval officer. In point of fact, however, the Code (Title 10, Section 6951A) does not mandate that a naval officer be superintendent. It simply stipulates “an officer.”   Today, when the various military branches are working more closely together and reducing historical rivalries, it is unfortunate that Marines have never been considered for this position.

The Marine Corps is a critical part of America’s military strength as the need for rapidly deployable ground and air capability has increased. Marines are often “first responders,” ready to secure the peace in any area hit by struggle or disaster before other branches are mobilized.

These capabilities demand a special kind of leadership –a kind that requires decisiveness, cost-consciousness, expediency and efficiency. Marine generals know how to operate with intensity and a unique focus and every other service branch has tried to emulate Marine leadership. Further, some of the nation’s best MBA-producing universities send students to the Marine base at Quantico to learn advanced leadership skills. 

Consider:

• Ø Marines taste combat wherever they are sent. A Marine officer would be an experienced and capable leader in the smallest details of combat training.
• Ø Because the Marine Corps shares duties with all the service branches, the oversight of training by a Marine officer would greatly increase the comprehensive focus of training at the Academy.
• Ø The Marines traditionally focus on awareness of military and political history, philosophy, formal strategic development, logistics planning and contingencies, while the Navy focuses more on technical education, engineering and mathematics. Leadership in the Marine areas of focus would increase the Academy’s “big-picture” perspective.
• Ø The United States depends on the Marines for a more diverse set of directives than it does for the other branches. Because of this, a Marine officer’s leadership would foster diversity.

It’s time for our nation’s military to expand the pool of qualified applicants for important positions, including leading the Naval Academy.  Though tradition is important, so is modernization. In this era of ongoing conflict, the need for new perspectives is crucial. Times change and the military must change with them to stay current. The “ever faithful” Marines deserve the chance to be a force for leadership excellence at the top of the Joint Chiefs and the Naval Academy, as they are in so many other areas of our nation’s defense.

I wish the best of luck to Gen. Dunford. The Boston native is a widely respected, combat-hardened commander who led the Afghanistan war coalition during a key transitional period during 2013-2014. He is well connected internationally and holds master’s degrees in Government from Georgetown University and International Relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Semper Fi!

Eich, Ph.D, former chief of news and public affairs at Stanford University Medical Center, is president of the strategy consulting firm, EICH ASSOCIATED.  He was a Naval Reserve captain who served on the Naval Academy Congressional Screening Committees for U.S. Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Marvin Esch (R-Mich.).