Twice a month, retired Rear Admiral Roger Nolan leads a group of business people on a guided tour of the Naval War College in Newport, walking them through such rooms as Pringle Hall, where U.S. military commanders conceived virtually every naval battle plan between 1890 and World War II.
The tours are part of an ambitious effort underway at the War College to triple the more than 5,000 individual and corporate sponsors that contribute to its foundation and double the size of its $17 million endowment.
“When folks donate to the foundation, they are supporting our troops, if you will,” said Nolan, who now serves as executive director of the Naval War College Foundation. “Some people like yellow magnets for the back of their cars, others like to take a more hands-on approach. When you support the work that goes on inside of this college, you support international bridge-building and international cooperation.”
The war-gaming once conducted on Pringle Hall’s vast checkerboard floor is now done in cyberspace in a classified wing of the War College. The hall has been converted into a comfortable sitting room for the hundreds of high-ranking military officers from other nations that study at the War College each year.
The Naval Command College – one of five academic programs at the war college – was established during the Cold War to bring military officers being groomed for the highest command in other countries to Newport for up to a year of professional study, cultural exchange and personal-relationship building.
Last year, the Naval Command College hosted 115 foreign officers from 52 nations. At the same time, several hundred U.S. military officers and government employees studied at the War College last year, including officers from the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and members of the U.S State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Defense contractors and other businesses that work closely with the Navy in Newport have supported the Naval War College Foundation for decades, Nolan said. But as he ramps up the foundation’s capital campaign, Nolan is reaching out to companies that haven’t traditionally worked with the Navy – including local small businesses in Newport, Middletown and beyond.
The foundation, which contributes about $600,000 annually to the War College, pays for activities at the institution not funded by the federal government, including the travel expenses of staff that crisscross the globe meeting with military leaders in other nations to discuss strategic issues and plan collaborations, Nolan said.
The foundation also funds four academic chairs at the Naval War College; 24 academic awards of $1,000 each that are given out each year; and lectures and symposia conducted by leading world experts, including U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Last year, the foundation also paid for much-needed technology upgrades in every classroom at the Naval War College, at a cost of $10,000 per classroom, Nolan said.
Corporations and private donors who support the foundation are invited to attend many of the lectures, symposia and other events held at the war college throughout the year, including the annual Current Strategy Forum, a two-day event held in June during which top-level military leaders and decision makers discuss key issues and declassified information affecting the Navy and its military partners throughout the world.
Foundation members are also invited to support the Naval War College by acting as sponsors to the hundreds of military officers from other nations who study in Newport each year, Nolan said.
Farnum Brown, sales manager at Bruce Beard Automotive, a dealer of Italian motorcycles and scooters and high-end used cars in Middletown, is currently sponsoring three such foreign military personnel, including a Ukrainian Navy Captain and a Ukrainian Coast Guard Lt. Commander.
Brown, who has worked overseas with the U.S. Dept. of Defense, said he enjoyed helping foreign visitors studying at the Naval War College to navigate the local geography and experience U.S. culture.
“I know what it’s like to be in a hotel room in some foreign country and not knowing anybody,” he said. •
