Dr Roy Rice
MORS President
68th MORS Symposium
What an exciting 68th MORS Symposium we had at the US Air Force Academy. We broke the record for attendance at a Symposium held away from the DC area. The last symposium at Annapolis still holds the overall record — let’s break that record at Annapolis again next June at the 69th — the Theme is "Sailing into the New Millennium." Congratulations for a SUPER job go to Program Chair Roy Reiss, his program staff, the supporting staff at the Air Force Academy (Lt Cols Mark Reid, Jerry Diaz, Maureen Harrington and all the other Academy personnel), and, of course, the MORS staff (Dick, Natalie, Cynthia, Corrina and Jarvey who were ably assisted by Peggy Lambert, ONR and Betty Melick, USMA).
New MORS Leadership
It’s an honor to present to the MORS members our new officers who were elected by the Board of Directors at our June meeting; Dr Tom Allen (President Elect), LTC Willie McFadden (VP(FM)), COL Mike McGinnis (VP(MO)), Ted Smyth (VP(PA)), and Col Ken "Crash" Konwin (Secretary). I also take pride in introducing our newly elected Directors of the Society; LTC Jeff Appleget, Mike Garrambone, Jack Keane, Mike Leonard, Lana McGlynn, Pat McKenna and LTC Kirk Yost. I sincerely feel that this is a very strong group of officers and an extremely talented Board of Directors.
This Year’s Theme
Like most of you, I am encouraged and excited about the technological advances in our profession. The new sciences hold tremendous promise and we must constantly push the envelope in these areas. However, we must also remember that nothing in these new sciences is going to repeal the laws of probability or invalidate the principles of calculus or degrade the usefulness of numerical methods. Therefore, my theme for this year in MORS is "On a Foundation of the Basics." Let’s continue to look ahead, but make sure that future generations of young analysts remain rooted in a solid mastery of the basics of our profession.
Special Meetings
I encourage all of you to keep your eyes open for future PHALANX issues, PHALANX On-line, and our website (http://www.mors.org) for our upcoming Special Meetings. The first one on the horizon is a Workshop on "Advancing C4ISR Assessment" to be held at the Army War College in Carlisle, PA, this October. RADM Nutwell is the proponent for this follow-up meeting to the one we had in October 1998. Priscilla Glasow is our committee chair for Special Meetings this year. If you have any ideas on topics for meetings or would like to volunteer to run or help organize a meeting, give Priscilla a call.
Our Heritage
This year is also a special year in the History of MORS. Our Society was incorporated in the Spring of 1966. That means that in the Spring of 2001 we will celebrate our 35th Anniversary. We have begun plans for celebration activities and will publicize them as they firm up. As part of that history and heritage, I encourage you to check out (and order) a copy of the newest reprint in our Heritage Series — E.S. Quade’s book, Analysis for Military Decisions.
The "Bully Pulpit"
I would like to take this opportunity to mention one thing about some of the presentations I saw at our Symposium at USAFA this year. Although the large majority of the presentations were absolutely outstanding, some of them appeared to be briefings that had been prepared for Flag Officers. The presenters appeared to have removed all the "meat" of the analysis (problem statement, operational context, assumptions, essential elements of analysis, discussion of the evolution of MOEs, analytic methods chosen, analytic methods rejected, etc.) and focused on the results for a senior officer. Let’s not forget that we are presenting these papers/briefings in WORKING GROUPS. I would like to emphasize WORKING groups for next year. We are mostly interested in sharing and learning HOW the analysis was accomplished and less interested in actual results. Please keep this in mind when submitting presentations and papers next year.
Changing of the Guard
Lastly, I want to announce that Brian Engler is now our Society’s Executive Vice President (EVP). As EVP, Brian is responsible for the day-to-day operation and management of the MORS Office. His staff is simply the best! The tremendous excitement of having Brian come onboard is tempered, however, by the departure of our previous EVP, Dick Wiles. Dick followed a sparkling career as an Army Officer by joining our staff 16 years ago. Dick has been our corporate knowledge, our chief mentor, our counselor, our advisor, our leader, and, most importantly, our friend for 16 years. Through those years, Dick has seen many changes in MORS – and initiated many of those changes. Dick is the ultimate professional and we will miss him greatly. To Dick and his lovely wife Ginny, who have moved to South Carolina, I offer this farewell (from my Navy brethren) on behalf of the entire Society and, especially, all the MORS Presidents you have served so well; "Fair Winds and Following Seas," my friend.