U.S. Navy Capstone Strategy, Policy, Vision and Concept Documents: What to consider before you write one

The study is about the Navy’s “declaratory” strategy: What it says to itself and the world about what it should do and does, and where it is heading. The Navy – and any the Nation’s large military institutions – has many other types of strategies (and policies, visions, etc.). Ideally, they all are aligned with – and indeed derive from – its declaratory strategy. This paper – and the larger study from which it is derived – does not purport to address in any great detail the development of these other types of strategy in anywhere near the same detail as its addressal of the Navy’s declaratory strategy. It must, however, point out to the reader the existence of these various types of strategies, and the importance of ensuring their alignment, especially if the Navy’s declaratory policy is to carry any weight. To announce, for example, that it is Navy policy to focus on power projection operations, while the Navy is in fact procuring primarily sea control capabilities, would be dysfunctional. Likewise, to declare a Navy focus on maritime security and humanitarian assistance operations, while providing little training in those areas, would risk discrediting the capstone document in which the declaration was made – and therefore the Navy as a whole.