Aine Seitz McCarthy

The passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act ushered in an era of sweeping change in U.S. military acquisition policies and processes. Reform was necessary, but the legislation's implementation resulted in a host of unintended and undesirable consequences, especially in the Department of the Navy. Drawing on research, interviews, and their own professional experience, the authors examine these negative effects and propose associated recommendations.

The computer networks, systems, and applications used on Navy ships are an amalgam of disparate hardware and software systems that were developed and introduced onboard largely independent from one another. This report assesses the manpower, personnel, and training implications associated with the introduction of the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES)--a common computing environment--to U.S. Navy ships.