More than an organization, the Naval Institute is the intellectual heart of the naval profession. It gives voice to those who seek the finest Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard in the world. At its core, the Institute is an open, independent, nonpartisan forum where those who dare to read, think, speak and write can take issue with senior positions—not as an act of insubordination, but as a step towards the goal of advancing sea power. While the Institute's purpose remains constant—the advancement of professional, literary, and scientific knowledge in the naval profession—we are excited by and committed to trying innovative ways to advance our mission. The Naval Institute's new Strategic Plan is aggressive on all fronts that matter to the profession, extending the Institute's reach, broadening its community, and increasing the “dare factor. " To enhance understanding of the Sea Services' contributions to global security, we intend to pro-actively introduce strategic issues to the Open Forum and help ensure “top cover" for those who responsibly engage in discourse. We will progress the online edition of Proceedings in response to the growing thirst for fresh content. We will purposefully expand the breadth of our audience—many of whom may well be younger, civilian, international and in related professions such as merchant marines, cyber and energy. But even as we seek to make our content accessible and understandable to a wider audience, we will adhere to our high standards for relevance, credibility and accuracy. The Naval Institute will provide more and better opportunities for naval personnel to broaden their professional networks online and in person to strengthen their expertise. We will build on core resources, creating new digital and in-print databases and guides. Because their perspectives are vital—and currently underrepresented—we will redouble our efforts to serve, attract, and retain Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard senior enlisted professionals. We will continue to be the go-to source for motivated professionals who want to share information with like-minded individuals. We fully understand that all organizations must embrace digitization of information. For the Naval Institute, so intrinsically in the information business, this profoundly affects all aspects of what we do. Dynamic technology developments drive the necessity to keep pace with change and with our constituents' needs. This is matched by the complex requirements to maintain cyber security, protecting all who associate with the Institute—and our intellectual property. Our vision is not solely focused on the future. We intend to intensify our efforts to keep alive the lessons of naval history to benefit both current and future generations—capturing more primary-source material, publishing more naval histories, and attracting more top-notch historians to the Naval Institute Press through creative and enhanced editorial support.

To accomplish all we plan to do, the Naval Institute must continue to prove—and improve—its financial efficiency. There are two aspects of this institutional resilience: surviving the unpredictable bumps that inevitably crop up and having the agility to seize strategic opportunities on short notice.

Both aspects of this institutional resilience are helped immeasurably by donor support of all sizes. Donations provide investment capital (restricted funds for specific projects such as a particular oral history or essay contest) and opportunity capital (unrestricted funds for flexibility—and the ability to cover everyday operating expenses).

By quarterly reviewing our Strategic Plan objectives and key strategic initiatives through an execution management plan, staff will stay on task to accomplish our goals.

Over the past four years, the Naval Institute has:• Grown its membership, especially among active-duty Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen. • Embraced the digital world by launching the daily USNI News and several apps where young naval professionals and others interested in naval and defense issues get the lion's share of their news and information. • Increased “the battle rhythm" of publication, supplying content on a daily as well as a monthly cycle. • Become a reliable and independent source for the mainstream media's increasing need for accurate information about the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. • Hosted the USNI Blog that has been determined the best of its kind by USAA four years running. • Moved the Institute's 143 years of content into digital format to inform the work of students, historians, policy analysts, and documentary filmmakers. The Institute digitized its vast trove of content—including 142 years of Proceedings Magazine, the audio files of its large oral history archive, 550 Naval Institute Press titles now available as eBooks, and the Institute is in progress of digitizing more than 200,000 naval photographs. By focusing on challenging content and key topics, Naval Institute publications, books, news site and blog have strongly affected—for the better—both naval professionals and naval thinking.