Politics & Power Quote by Rob Simmons

Calling a submarine force the "Silent Service" is usually a compliment: stealth as doctrine, anonymity as armor. Simmons flips that pride into a political liability. "All together too silent" is a neat bit of wordplay, but it’s also an indictment of how public attention works in Washington: what can’t be photographed, toured, or spun into a ribbon-cutting tends to lose out to what can. Submariners do their job by disappearing; lawmakers do their job, often, by being seen. The line exposes that mismatch without sounding like a budget ask on first read.

The intent is straightforward: pry open the public narrative so the program can compete for resources and prestige. "Begin to highlight" is the tell. It’s not about operational secrecy; it’s about strategic storytelling. Simmons isn’t arguing that submarines should be less clandestine at sea, but that their value should be less clandestine on Capitol Hill and in the media ecosystem that shapes defense priorities.

Subtext: deterrence is hard to sell. Submarines prevent disasters precisely by making nothing happen, and “nothing happened” is a terrible headline. So Simmons pushes for a reframing: invisibility as an active contribution to national security, not a passive absence. In the post-Cold War churn, and later amid shifting threats, the Silent Service risks becoming a victim of its own success. His line is a reminder that in a democracy, even the most secretive instruments of power still need a public-facing argument to survive.