MOC Intelligence Professionals Enable Decision Advantage for the High-End Fight
NIP Readbook, Fall/Winter 2025… by Lieutenant Bryan Smith, U.S. Navy
The Chief of Naval Operations’ “Fight from the Maritime Operations Center (MOC)” strategic priority represents a fundamental rethinking of how the Navy executes at the operational level of war. The MOC is no longer just a coordination hub—it must operate as the fleet commander’s primary warfighting platform. In a future “high end” fight, our adversaries will benefit from the significant recent investments they have made in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as increasingly accurate long-range fires. Decisions made at the MOCs are integral to the U.S. Navy’s ability to conduct long-range fires while maneuvering to reduce unit vulnerability and proactively driving fleet replenishment to sustain combat operations.
Most Marines had never seen combat when Peter Ortiz joined the Corps in June 1942. However, he had already survived five years in the French Foreign Legion and fought in Africa, faced the Nazis in France, spent 15 months as a prisoner of war, and escaped occupied Europe to get back into the fight.
Continue reading “The U.S. Marine Who Forced Nazi Officers to Toast FDR at Gunpoint — and Became the Most Decorated OSS Operative”
The Battle of Mogadishu, fought on October 3–4, 1993, remains one of the most intense and heroic engagements involving U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. The battle took place in Mogadishu, Somalia, during Operation Gothic Serpent, a mission launched by U.S. and United Nations forces to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid and stabilize the region during a time of famine and civil unrest.
Continue reading “Remembering The Battle of Mogadishu, Also known as “Black Hawk Down””
At the end of September, a Telegram channel known for its network of Russian intelligence sources reported that a Black Sea fleet submarine had run into “serious technical problems” while on a mission off Gibraltar, in the Mediterranean. The Novorossiysk submarine was at risk of exploding, it said, and according to online sleuths, later surfaced, giving away its location. But the question remains, what was a Russian sub even doing there? This is what we know so far.
Continue reading “Fuel leak blows cover for alleged Russian submarine Novorossiysk off Gibraltar”
On September 19, 2025, Estonia accused Russia of flying three MiG-31 (Foxbat) fighter aircraft into its airspace near Vaindloo Island over the Gulf of Finland. According to the Estonian Ministry of Defense, the jets penetrated the country’s sovereign territory for approximately 12 minutes without flight plans, with transponders switched off, and without responding to Estonian air traffic control. NATO aircraft—Italian F-35s operating under the Baltic Air Policing mission—were scrambled in response.
Continue reading “Russian Fighter Jets Violate Estonian Airspace: A Test for NATO Unity”
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