1970s: All-Volunteer Force and Critical Analyses

To maintain operational effectiveness in an era of reduced budgets, the Navy increased its emphasis on analysis – to develop tactics that overcame technical shortcomings of old systems and to determine how best to use new systems.

Red-Side Operations and ASW Analyses

Early in 1970 CNA set up a Red-Side Operations Analysis section analyze U.S.S.R. naval operations and assess Soviet capabilities and limitations. CNA also assumed technical management of the Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) Tactical Analysis Group which later served as the core for Tactical Development and Evaluation (TacD&E) program established in 1973 to develop and evaluate tactics to make the best use of the Navy's ships, planes, weapon systems, sensors, and other equipment. TacD&E evaluations were conducted both ashore, using computer simulations, and at sea to evaluate tactics in an operationally real setting; an approach that allowed each method to make up for the shortcomings of the other.

All-Volunteer Force

In 1973 the Gates Commission was formed to assess the impact of moving from a conscripted force to the all-volunteer force (AVF). By analyzing each objection to the AVF, CNA analysts (who made up 40 percent of the commission’s staff) contributed to the commission's eventual unanimous support of the volunteer force concept.

The contributions of CNA analysts were further recognized later in the decade when an evaluation of CNA’s work by the Director of Navy Program Planning concluded that the high quality of CNA's efforts, when coupled with its position of independence, provided the Department of the Navy with excellent and unbiased tools to aid in the decision-making process.

1980s:  Meeting Soviet Force