The main priority of the U. S. Naval War College is to educate and develop future leaders through the development of strategic perspective, critical thinking and cultural awareness, as well a enhancing the capability to advise senior leaders and policy makers. Further goals include, but are not limited to: Helping to define the future of the Navy--it's roles and missions; supporting combat readiness; strengthening global maritime partnerships; promoting ethics and leadership; contributing knowledge to shape effective decisions through the Maritime History Center expertise and through the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, provide expertise and advice to the international legal community. These goals will be achieved through preserving: 1. A current and relevant curriculum; 2. A world-class faculty and staff; 3) the best and brightest joint study body educated both during their time at the College and through an ongoing robust alumni and donor programs for lifelong learning and engagement. The College will continue to study warfare, to include the important dialogue on irregular warfare, cyber security and prevention of conflict. The Naval War College Foundation (NWCF) provides critical funds needed to support the College's unique ability to develop military and civilian leaders who are 1. Skilled in the strategic and operational challenges of today and tomorrow; 2. Dedicated to preserving national security and global position of leadership; 3) Adept at navigating the challenges of war and the prevention of war.

Strategies include, but are not limited to: 1) Operationalizing the College's educational and research efforts to maximize near-term support to the Fleet. In particular, the College will provide greater focus on understanding today's threats, while further enhancing military preparedness; 2) Expanding the navalization of College curriculum to best maximize understanding of sea control; 3) Aligning parts of the curricula to teach through a maritime and sea power lens; 4) Creating and infusing an understanding of future operating environments, technologies and operational concepts to continue to prepare students for the ever-increasing scope of pace of change; 5) Accelerating a process which strives to further internationalize itself so that it becomes the veritable locus of international maritime cooperation to increase the capability and capacity of the College to turn episodic engagement events into a purposeful program that leverages its reputation for neutrality and inclusiveness to build a network of reliable partnerships; 5) Attract and retain talented and expert faculty and staff through a rational and incremental approach to normalizing the conditions under which our professional faculty and staff are enabled to conduct their teaching and research efforts. In partnership with the College, the Foundation's strategies to ensuring success are: 1. Build a state of the art fundraising operation which marries together donors' goals and intentions with College's goals and needs focusing on leadership development in areas of critical thinking and cultural awareness and the ability to advise senior-most leaders; 2. Put into place and continuously hone, nurture, review and evaluate standard best operating practices recognized in the philanthropic professional community by institutions such as GuideStar, Charity Navigator, Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act/Uniform Law Commission, BBB Wise Giving Alliance and the Independent Sector among others to ensure successful fundraising to further ensure that the U. S. Naval War College has adequate and substantial funding to meet its goals leading to a more safe, secure and peaceful world; 3. Work with the College to ensure funding priorities and needs are consistently identified and updated linking them to donor priorities and needs. 4. Focus on areas of greatest impact and return on investment so that the College's goals are achieved and needs met by conducting internal audits in key areas 1) staff training; 2) donor stewardship 3) fundraising 4) operations; 5. Continue to develop meaningful partnerships with community partners locally, nationally and internationally to meet the College's goals for more strategic and operational challenges in today's world; preserving national security and global leadership and to ensure the greater understanding and ability to navigate the challenges of war and its prevention.

The U. S. Naval War College is an iconic symbol of the United States’ rich military history. Established in 1884, the College is the oldest educational institution of its kind in the world. It has grown to become the military’s—indeed the world’s—premier graduate institution focused on developing leaders, defining the future of the Navy, supporting combat readiness, and strengthening maritime partnerships. The Naval War College is fully accredited, and graduates over 600 resident students each year and supports a robust distance-education program serving more than 1000 students annually and more than 303,000 over time. In this regard, the goals and strategies outlined above should animate and inform the agendas of all departments within the College. Senior-most leadership, deans, chairs, directors, faculty and staff are charged with understanding the goals and strategies and implementing the vision it expounds by developing and implementing supporting objectives. The College will accomplish its goals through the joint focused efforts of its 375 faculty of which 129 are military and 246 are civilian and 312 staff of which 91 are military and 221 are civilian. It will do it through its centers for research and excellence including the Stockton Center for International Law, Center for Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups, China Maritime Studies Institute, Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute, Institute for Future Warfare Studies, John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research and its Russia Maritime Studies Institute. Further capabilities exist in the Academic Departments themselves, namely, the College of Distance Education, College of Leadership and Ethics, College of Maritime Operational Warfare, College of Naval Command and Staff, College of Naval Warfare, Naval Command College and the Naval Staff College. Its further capabilities are found in administrative departments such as the Office of Naval Intelligence Detachment, Public Affairs Office, Office of Alumni Affairs and Office of Reserve Affairs among others. Another important part of the College which bolsters its capability to not only address and achieve its goals, but disseminate information and research related to them is the Naval War College Press which publishes a variety of news reports, research publications, books and journals.

Senior-most leadership, dean, chairs, directors, faculty and staff monitor progress toward achievement. Periodic assessment of the College's tangible results play a critical role in prioritizing future endeavors. Progress toward accomplishment of the missions and plans identified in this document are monitored and periodically assessed. The assessment of progress in meeting the College's strategic objectives are promulgated to the faculty and staff and resources provided to ensure successful completion of each element of the vision. Three priorities guide the implementation and evaluation processes: In all actions taken, all members of the Naval War College and NWCF communities will protect the academic integrity of our educational and research programs; will maintain the College's relevancy to the needs of the Navy and the Department of Defense and respect the worth of every individual on the College team demanding the highest levels of ethical behavior from all. The College and Foundation are committed to steering a steady course that will provide value to the Navy and to the national security establishment at large. The Naval War College Foundation measures progress using standard measures in the nonprofit world measuring e. g. increased numbers of those meaningfully engaged in the institution including members, donors and other constituents; number of those impacted and served by projects and programs, numbers of and extent to which College programs are funded and served; donation and endowment growth.

Among the U. S. Naval War College's many accomplishments which is tied directly to its goals and strategies was the Naval War College's hosting along with the National Center for Disaster Medicine & Public Health, a war-game simulation called "Urban Outbreak. " The simulation was held in September, 2019 with some 50 experts in disaster response from the College, academia, military, nonprofit and private sectors for a two-day exercise held at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab. The exercise simulated a fictional outbreak of what might happen if a pandemic were to break out and determined the nation would not be prepared. The simulation was specifically designed to reveal gaps in communication and resources and expose areas in which leadership and new and/or revised strategies were needed and should be implemented. The simulation was designed to raise hidden critical issues lying just under the surface of a problem like a pandemic. This work was completed three months prior to the Coronavirus becoming known and helped begin a very important dialogue to lessen the impact of Coronavirus and future pandemics. Another major accomplishment was the establishment of one of its newest center of excellence, the Cyber and Innovation Policy Institute (CIPI) which furthers its missions and related goals and strategies, particularly in the complex and ever changing world of cyber security. Protecting our nation is not just about traditional threats and battlefield weapons. Challenges also lurk in cyberspace, including surveillance programs and wide-scale disruptions to government and corporate operations. CIPI advances and promotes research, education, and analysis in the evolving field of digital defense. The College and Naval War College Foundation, working in partnership with the public and private sectors put forth the goal and vision for the creation and endowment of such a center. The Foundation launched a ten million dollar capital campaign in 2014 and to-date, more than $10 million in funds were raised, endowing and establishing the Institute. CIPI's research creates new knowledge about cyber security and military innovation to help shape the future of the Navy, joint force, and national policy. The Naval War College Foundation works in partnership with the College to ensure simulations like Urban Outbreak and centers of excellence like the Cyber & Innovation Policy Institute have the necessary funding to meet goals for the broadest possible impact in today's world.