By Dmitry Filipoff
CIMSEC discussed the 1980s Maritime Strategy with Captain Spencer Johnson (ret.), who was instrumental in assembling the first briefed iteration of the Maritime Strategy in 1982. In this conversation, Capt. Johnson discusses how the strategy had to quickly come together to inform Navy programming, how it was received in its initial briefings by senior leadership, and how the Soviet Union reacted to the Maritime Strategy toward the end of the Cold War.
What was your role in OPNAV when the Maritime Strategy got started?
I went back to OPNAV in January of 1982, on completion of a three-year tour in command of USS