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Blind man's NMCI
In his final session with the press this month on the eve of his departure as Navy Marine Corps Intranet
director, Rear Adm. Charles Munns referred to his two-and-a-half-year tenure running the troubled
program as the most challenging of his naval career.
Not even his tour as commanding officer of USS Richard B. Russell attack submarine during the Cold War
equaled NMCI in terms of a challenge, Munns said.
Whew! This illustrates what a troubled project NMCI has been, because the Russell is one of the subs
whose exploits against the Soviet Union — though never officially acknowledged by the Navy — are
celebrated in the book "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage."
That 1999 book details operations such as the use of subs, including the Russell, to tap into underseas
Soviet communications cables, play "chicken" with Soviet attack subs and retrieve U.S. hydrogen bombs
lost in the deep sea.
The Navy needs to come up with an NMCI campaign ribbon for Munns and his staff.
In his final session with the press this month on the eve of his departure as Navy Marine Corps Intranet
director, Rear Adm. Charles Munns referred to his two-and-a-half-year tenure running the troubled
program as the most challenging of his naval career.
Not even his tour as commanding officer of USS Richard B. Russell attack submarine during the Cold War
equaled NMCI in terms of a challenge, Munns said.
Whew! This illustrates what a troubled project NMCI has been, because the Russell is one of the subs
whose exploits against the Soviet Union — though never officially acknowledged by the Navy — are
celebrated in the book "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage."
That 1999 book details operations such as the use of subs, including the Russell, to tap into underseas
Soviet communications cables, play "chicken" with Soviet attack subs and retrieve U.S. hydrogen bombs
lost in the deep sea.
The Navy needs to come up with an NMCI campaign ribbon for Munns and his staff.
Taken From "Intercepts"
BY Bob Brewin and Frank Tiboni
Published on Sept. 20, 2004
Published on Sept. 20, 2004
