Tuesday, June 10, 2014

You don't get a chance to name a building at USNA often

Words mean things. When you name things that will last decades, they mean even more. When names have the opportunity to inspire, teach, and otherwise give those who visit, work, or live - or go to war - in named things; the importance of the right name reaches a new level. That is why I get so twitchy when we do goofy things for iffy reasons when we name ships.

 Not totally unrelated to ships; as unique of an opportunity it is to pick a name for a ship, it is even more rare to have an opportunity to name a building at a institution of higher learning.

 Especially places that do not add buildings often, are space limited, and whose students can rise to important positions - not only are these opportunities rare, they also require careful thought.

 All that bubbled to the surface when I read this from The Capital;
Legislation with $120 million for a planned Center for Cyber Security Studies at the Naval Academy could reach the U.S. Senate floor for a vote within the next month, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., told the Naval Academy Board of Visitors on Monday.
Mikulski, who sits on the Board of Visitors and has been an avid supporter for the funding, said she expects the fiscal 2015 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, or HR 4486 to come to the Senate floor in three weeks.
...
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2016 and be finished by late 2018. The building would be between Nimitz Library and Rickover Hall, overlooking the Severn River.

The academy also plans to break ground on a multilevel parking garage near the center in early 2015, to make up for parking spaces that will be lost when the new building goes up.

The Center for Cyber Security Studies would include labs, offices, classrooms, lecture halls, an observatory and a rooftop multipurpose space.
Nimitz on one side, Rickover on the other.

 Well, there are some large shoes to fill.

 OK alumni from the Severn School for Wayward Boys and Girls. A cyber security building ... whose name should be on the front, and why?
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous08:08

    "Amazing Grace" Hopper. Nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous08:05

    Edward Snowden?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown09:34

    Rear Adm. Donald "Mac" Showers

    As an ensign assigned to the Combat Intelligence Unit Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor (also known as Station HYPO) in 1942, Showers began his distinguished career as part of the radio intelligence team that helped penetrate the Imperial Japanese Navy code and correctly identified the enemy forces' objective enabling Fleet Adm. Nimitz to deploy his carriers and defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway.

    Commissioned in 1941, Showers served his nation in uniform and as a civilian until his retirement in 1983. His post WWII career included laying the groundwork for what would become the Canada, United Kingdom, United States (CANUKUS) naval intelligence conference serving as the first Officer-in-Charge of the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office (NFOIO), Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence on the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific (CINCPAC) Staff, successive tours with the Defense Intelligence Agency in senior leadership positions, and more than 11 years with the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Intelligence Community Staff.

    Showers' distinguished 42 year career encompassing the entirety of WWII through the height of the Cold War inspired generations of America's intelligence professionals.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:53

    If not Grace Hooper (will need to change the name of a building at NSA Annapolis) Then the only other one you might look at is one of the early SIGINT/CRYTO guys Rowlett, Rocheford ect.

    ReplyDelete