Center for Naval Analyses
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The Center for Naval Analyses is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) for the Department of the Navy, which includes both the Navy and the Marine Corps. The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) is operated by the Alexandria, Virginia-based CNA Corporation, which includes CNA and the Institute for Public Research.
The Center for Naval Analyses dates to World War II, when scientists deployed with the U.S. Navy to help address the German U-boat threat. Although CNA's primary source of funding is the Department of the Navy, CNA also serves other government agencies, including the Coast Guard.
In February 2008, the Center for Naval Analyses launched its SIPRNET website, www.cna.navy.smil.mil. The SIPRNET is the classified version of the Internet, and is used by the Department of Defense and Department of State.
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[edit] Research Divisions
The Center for Naval Analyses has four major research divisions: the Operations Evaluation Group, Advanced Technology and Systems Analysis Division, Resource Analysis Division, and the Center for Strategic Studies.
The Operations Evaluation Group (OEG) has six research teams--Combat Systems, Operational Strike Warfare, Theater Operations, Operations and Training, Tactical Naval Issues, and Naval Operations and Support--and oversees CNA's field program, through which analysts spend one to two years with military commands around the world. Analysts regularly deploy with troops during combat, and several are now in Iraq and Afghanistan. The purpose of these field analysts is to provide direct analytical support to operating forces in the tradition of CNA's World War II heritage.
CNA researchers also go on temporary field assignments to assist with analysis and data-gathering after a disaster. Analysts were in New York following the September 11 attacks, in Indonesia following the tsunami, and in the Gulf Coast region followings Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The Advanced Technology and Systems Analysis Division (ATSA) helps government and military decision-makers set requirements for new systems and make technology and systems investments. Analysts then help guide the proposed system through the defense acquisition process.
Like OEG, ATSA has six research teams: Aviation Systems and Technology, Expeditionary Systems and Support, Information Technology and Operations, Maritime Search and Undersea Warfare, Science and Technology, Surface Operations and Systems.
The Resource Analysis Division has four research teams: Cost and Acquisition, Defense Workforce Analyses, Infrastructure and Readiness, and Marine Corps Manpower. Areas of analysis include manpower management, materials management, facilities and real estate, acquisition management, budget and execution management, metrics, and competitive sourcing.
The Center for Strategic Studies is made up of regional analysts, most of whom have lived and worked abroad and are fluent in languages including Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, Russian, German, and Japanese. The center produces analytical studies and assessments and has an active conference and workshop agenda. Division teams include the International Affairs Group, which covers the Middle East, South, and Central Asia, and includes Project Iran; Project Asia, which focuses on China and has more than a dozen China experts who have lived, studied, and worked in China and who are fluent in Mandarin Chinese; and the Center for Stability and Development, launched in 2006 to focus on counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. Project Iran is staffed by Persian linguists who have expertise in Iranian domestic and foreign policy issues.
[edit] History
Irving Shaknov: CNA Analyst Killed in the Korean War
The Center for Naval Analyses has a long history of placing analysts with military commands to provide analytical support during operations.
Irving Shaknov, who earned his doctorate from Columbia University in 1951 just before joining CNA, was killed one year later while he was collecting data on a nighttime air mission during the Korean War. He is the only CNA analyst to die during combat operations.
Shaknov was in Korea for three months as an analyst assigned to the Commander, United States Naval Forces Far East (ComNavFE), when he joined an armed reconnaissance mission to collect data on May 14, 1952. The plane was shot down and Shaknov was killed.
According to Kenneth Tidman’s The Operations Evaluation Group: A History of Naval Operations Analysis, “Dr. Shaknov’s death sparked considerable debate over how close to the fighting an OEG scientist—or, for that matter, any civilian scientist—should be permitted to get.”
[edit] The CNA Corporation
The Center for Naval Analyses is operated by the Alexandria, Virginia-based CNA Corporation, which includes CNA and the Institute for Public Research.
CNA Corporation Climate Change Report: On April 16, 2007, the CNA Corporation published a report, "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change,"[1] on the dangers faced by the United States and its military from global warming.[2] The report was authored by the Military Advisory Board, a defense advisory group composed of retired U.S. general officers.[2]
