Naval Intelligence Awards Program

ADM Ike Kidd Naval War College

The Naval War College ADM Ike Kidd Award was established in 1996 to recognize that in-residence student at the Naval War College whose professional essay is considered to have made the most significant contribution to maritime intelligence support within a joint force operational context. The winner is selected by a faculty committee chaired by the Layton Military Chair of Intelligence. The award consists of a $500 cash award and a 1-year membership in Naval Intelligence Professionals (NIP).

This award is endowed by the family of ADM Isaac Campbell Kidd Jr. Admiral Kidd retired in 1978 as Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet and Supreme Commander of NATO forces in the Atlantic. He then put his expertise to work for various public agencies in Washington, lectured widely on maritime law in the United States and abroad and taught a course on the subject at the College of William and Mary.

The admiral, who was known as Ike, was born into a Navy family in Cleveland and graduated from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, in 1942. His father, Rear Adm. Isaac Kidd Sr., was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, aboard his flagship, the USS Arizona. As a newly commissioned officer, Ensign Kidd was assigned to convoy duty in the North Atlantic. He later served as a gunnery officer aboard a destroyer in the Allied landings in Sicily and Italy, and finished the war in the Pacific theater.

He received his first destroyer command shortly after the war ended, and then alternated between sea and shore assignments before becoming a full admiral in 1971. In 23 years of sea duty, he commanded destroyers, destroyer divisions and Navy fleets in the Mediterranean, the Pacific and the Atlantic. As the Navy Chief of Materiel in the early 1970?s, he oversaw Navy procurement, logistics and labor relations and supervised 350,000 uniformed and civilian personnel.

Admiral Kidd led an inquiry into the Israeli attack on the American intelligence ship Liberty in the Mediterranean off the Sinai Peninsula during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, an attack that killed 34 officers and men and wounded 171 others. Israel said the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian ship, but the inquiry concluded that the Israeli attack was unprovoked.

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Awardees

2022
Mr. Nathan M. Pinkus (DIA)

2021
Mr. Keith Canine (DIA)

2020
LtCol Mirielle M. Petitjean, USAF

2019
Mr. Andrew J. Rhodes

2018
None

2017
Capt Walter H. Haydock, USMCR

2016
No essays were submitted this year

2015
Mr Saul Fields

2014
LT Scott J. Keenan, USN

2013
Major Michael L. Boswell, USAF

2012
Mr. Charles M. Balck

2011
No Award Presented

2010
No Award Presented

2009
Mr. David I. Conley, Jr.

2008
LtCol Jennifer P. Sovada, USAF

2007
Major Joseph E. Scanlin, Jr., USA

2006
Lt. Col. Michael LeSavage, USMC

2005
MAJ John P. Christopher, USMC

2004
LCDR Brett J. Morash, USN

2003
LCDR Michael H. Day, USCG

2002
Mr. Michael S. McBeth

2001
 LCDR Alfred R. Turner V, USN

2000
CDR Stephen A. Kappes, USN

1999
LCDR Eva Scofield, USN

1998
LCDR Jeffrey L. Canfield, USN

1997
CDR Sandra Brooks, USN

1996
CDR Tony Cothron, USN