Adm. Gary Roughead On The Modern Navy, Part 2

The Navy's highest ranking officer was in Boston for Navy Week. As chief of naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead serves as President Obama's top adviser on Naval affairs. He is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Roughead is a 1973 graduate of U.S. Naval Academy, where he served as commandant. He is one of only two officers ever to have commanded both the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic fleets.

Radio Boston spoke with Roughead in a wide-ranging interview. The first part covered topics from the Navy's anti-piracy missions to women on submarines and the Pentagon's review of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gay service members.

Part 2 drills down on the Navy's role in America's current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Roughead's view on Defense Secretary Robert Gates's push to trim big-ticket programs out of the Pentagon's budget.

The U.S. naval fleet is not only the largest in the world but larger than the next 13 largest navies combined. Roughead answers the question as to whether or not in an age of asymmetrical warfare, the Navy's size and strength best serves the military operations the United States is involved in now and in the future.

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