Center for Naval Analyses
| Founded | 1942 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Research and analysis services to DoD and other government agencies |
| Location | |
| Origins | U.S. Navy Anti-submarine Warfare Operations Research Group |
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Key people
|
Mark Geis, Executive Vice President |
| Website | www.cna.org/centers/cna |
The Center for Naval Analyses is the federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. It also provides research and analysis services to other military and government agencies to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. national defense efforts.
The Center pioneered the field of operations research over 70 years ago. Its research divisions address issues of preparedness, operations evaluation, systems analysis, foreign affairs, strategic relationships, humanitarian operations, logistics, and manpower.
Through the Center’s Field Program, approximately 50 analysts are assigned to Navy, Marine Corps, and Joint Commands around the world. Assignments range from carrier strike groups and Marine expeditionary forces to the U.S. Pacific Command. Field analysts are included in all functions of the command and provide real-time analytic support on operational problems of immediate concern to the military.
The Center for Naval Analyses is operated by CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization that also operates the Institute for Public Research and the CNA Military Advisory Board.
When the U.S. entered World War II and German submarines began to patrol the East Coast and American shipping lanes in earnest, the Navy’s immediate attention turned to countering this threat as part of the Battle of the Atlantic. In April 1942, Captain Wilder Baker, head of the Navy Antisubmarine Warfare Unit, enlisted MIT professor Philip Morse to lead an operations research team to help the Navy: the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group (ASWORG).
Although sending civilian experts to military commands was still a delicate matter, in June 1942, ASWORG set a precedent—and established the Field Program, which continues today—when it assigned an analyst to the Headquarters of the Gulf Sea Frontier in Miami. Soon after, it assigned several analysts to the Eastern Sea Frontier in New York. ASWORG itself was assigned to the Headquarters of Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, led by Admiral Ernest King, who was also Chief of Naval Operations. A year later, ASWORG joined the Tenth Fleet when the command was formed to consolidate America's antisubmarine warfare operations.
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