COMMENTARY:

Americans face a clear choice in November, between one candidate who has demonstrated excellence in one measure of responsibility and leadership, while the other candidate's leadership and experience credentials are hard to find.

One candidate, of course, has proven his credentials through military service, not to mention his 25 years in Congress. From my own experience, I can attest that the captain of a naval ship or the leader of an aircraft squadron is a time-honored position. He is given extraordinary responsibility and authority earned through demonstrated performance, which is evaluated at every level of his professional career. He is responsible for maintaining his ship and squadron in a high state of readiness so it is ready to carry out any mission assigned in peace or war. Failure is not an option.

The ship's and squadron's operating performance will be a direct reflection on the leadership of its captain. He will be held accountable for the proper training and motivation of his crew to carry out any assigned mission. A key element for success is a high crew morale. A crew's confidence in the captain, which must be earned, is certainly a key element.

Commanding a ship or a squadron requires clear direction. Experience gained through years of training gives the captain the confidence and judgment needed to make critical decisions that in many cases involve life-and-death situations. There is no Teleprompter or "bug" in your ear to tell you what to do. As captain, you cannot avoid these critical decisions by declaring "Present."

The captain of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the most sophisticated naval ship in the world, has had at least 22 years of experience in demanding positions. He has proven to his peers and superiors that he is capable of being given the responsibility to command this multibillion-dollar ship with a crew of 5,500-6,000 men and women, including an air wing of about 85 aircraft.

One day a fresh-caught ensign who just received his commission from officer candidate school reports aboard for duty. He is well-groomed, bright and articulate. He holds a master's degree from a prestigious university. He was editor of the school's paper. As a junior officer he is assigned to the deck division for basic indoctrination and training. Because he is so personable, he is also assigned additional duty as the ship's community relations officer. After 145 days aboard, most of which is spent off the ship doing community relations, he approaches the captain and informs him he believes he is now ready to relieve the captain and assume his responsibilities. If the captain agreed, you would say "have you lost your mind?" And rightly so.

So why after about 145 days in the Senate did the junior senator from Illinois announced he is now ready to become the next president of the United States and leader of the Free World and become embraced by millions of Americans as the next messiah? They basically know nothing about him or what he stands for, other than he is for "change." You need to understand that Barack Obama's use of the word "change" is a code word for a socialist redistribution of wealth.

While China and Russia are rapidly modernizing their military forces, including their nuclear weapons, Mr. Obama has made clear how he intends to cut our military budget, leaving us at a clear disadvantage. His past associations, which include leftist radicals and anti-Israel Islamic groups, plus questionable financial dealings, should be sufficient cause for concern. The Democrats are saddled with Mr. Obama. Let's keep it that way.

The Republicans have John McCain, whose character has been tested many times and has never been found wanting. After coming home from the "Hanoi Hilton" in 1973, Mr. McCain overcame torturous injuries to regain his flight status, and in 1976 gained command of VA-174, responsible for training A-7 Corsair attack jet pilots.

During his yearlong command of this squadron with 1,000 personnel and about 75 jets, during the period of budgetary hardship following the Vietnam War, Mr. McCain succeeded in increasing readiness and safety. While this is just a footnote in the record of accomplishments for John McCain, there is just no comparative experience of command or responsibility in the other candidate's record.

We need a president at this critical juncture who has the proven strength of character to lead this great nation and who can reach deep within himself to provide the moral leadership and courage to handle any crises this country and our allies may face.

The differences between the two candidates is stark. This presidential election should not even be a close call for the American voters.

James Lyons, U.S. Navy retired admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations, and deputy chief of naval operations, where he was principal adviser on all Joint Chiefs of Staff matters.

COMMENTARY:

With all the world's attention focused on the Beijing Olympics and to a lesser extent, the "truce" in Georgia, we should not underestimate the serious implications for U.S. strategic objectives posed by the Chinese military modernization programs, (Russia's announced modernization programs is another element).

Notwithstanding China's propaganda about banning weapons in space, the People's Liberation Army now has a demonstrated capability to intercept and destroy U.S. satellites in Polar and Low Earth Orbits. We should expect that more capable follow-on to the SC-19 anti-satellite weapon will allow the PLA to target even higher orbit satellites, like our critical GPS navigation and radar surveillance satellites.

As it builds systems to fight in or from space, China is also quickly exploiting space for military missions on Earth. China has an initial electro-optical and radar satellite constellation that will this year be joined by Russian-designed surveillance satellites. It should be noted that China has broken with Europe's Galileo navigation satellite program and will loft its own 30 satellite constellation to compete with the United States, Russian and European NavSat Systems. In April, China launched its first tracking data relay satellite to lessen its dependency on ground satellite control and relay stations. The emerging systems will in the near future enable global precision targeting by Chinese weapons.

China's space surveillance is being complemented by even more capable ground and sea systems. China has built several sky-wave based Over-the-Horizon radar stations that for the first time allow the PLA to monitor continuously U.S. Navy ship movements hundred miles out in the Western Pacific. China will also soon have new underwater sonar sensor networks designated to monitor and greatly aid in targeting U.S. submarines.

The PLA's space networks and ground surveillance systems will help target the PLA's new revolutionary long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles. Today, the 2,500-kilometer-range DF-21C medium range ballistic missiles and the 700= kilometer-range DF-15A tactical missiles are being deployed along the Taiwan Straits. While those missiles were influenced by the old U.S. Pershing 2 radar guided ballistic missile, China's system is far more capable and effectively keeps U.S. carrier battle groups out of their range until the U.S. Navy can put enough truly effective anti-missile defenses to sea.

It also argues for a stealth long-range attack aircraft as part of the airwing to provide more flexibility on how we employ our carriers. China can in the future sell these missiles to its rogue allies like Iran and further complicate U.S. security objectives.

Complementing the anti-ship ballistic missiles, China has purchased advanced Russian anti-ship missiles like the supersonic Sunburn and the very advanced Club-two-stage anti-ship missile. (We need to ensure that our ship defense can defeat these missiles). China also is developing its own advanced anti-ship missiles and its navigation satellite-guided bombs, like the U.S. JDAM.

By 2010, the PLA Navy could have about 60 very modern to moderately capable submarines. The threat from conventional and nuclear submarines cannot be overstated. Even older "Ming" class designs from the 1970s are modernized, and have been quieted enough so they can approach a ship and get off one deadly shot.

The implications for the U.S. Navy are clear. In 1987, I had 255 ships including seven aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet which is almost what we have in the entire Navy today.

We have taken some steps to improve our anti-ballistic and anti-ship missile capability, but more needs to be done. We obviously need to ramp up our ship building program. Cancellation of the Zumwalt DDG-1000 program was the right move with more focus on building Arleigh Burke DDG-51 missile destroyers and improving their defensive capability.

With increasing range of anti-ship missiles, our carrier airwings need a long- range stealth attack capability, both manned and unmanned. With the accelerated modernization of both China and Russia's military forces, the silver medal won't carry the day.

James "Ace" Lyons, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (the largest single military command in the world), senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations and was deputy chief of naval operations, where he was principal adviser on all Joint Chiefs of Staff matters.