The Kings Point Sentry

Colonel James A. Helis, the superintendent who lacked the competence, experience, and credentials to sail as a wiper or ordinary seaman, and who never should […]

Update:  Today’s the final day.  USMMA is in second, behind West Point, by about one percentage point of participation.  And those young punks from the […]

MARAD has announced that Superintendent Helis has accepted a position at MARAD HQ  as “special assistant to the administrator.” Unfortunately, he will remain in place […]

Given the marine interests of this of this blog, let me step out of our usual topics and emphasize something that is of important interest […]

At the request of Congress, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) has reviewed the progress — or lack of progress — shown […]

I haven’t had a chance to read the opinion yet and won’t until late tonight or tomorrow. But, given the interest, I wanted to post […]

Correction:  In the original version of this post, I stated that the the Newsday article did not indicate that anyone from the government’s side had […]

Update:  I’ve modified this post slightly.  The change is shown in “strikeout.”  An explanation appears at the end of the post. Preface: Once again, I […]

Preface- I don’t have an opinion about the guilt or innocence of the accused midshipman in the incident I am writing about. This column is […]

Ever since this blog was started, I have emphasized the importance the Academy’s sea year has to the goal of graduating the best and highest […]

An article on gCaptain.com called my attention to a podcast with Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby that was done by maritime attorney Kalus Luhta. The […]

As reported here (and elsewhere) yesterday, Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby cleared his calendar today so that he could get up to the Academy and […]

[Updated to reflect this report from the Maritime Administrator. Updates are highlighted.] My inbox was inundated today by reports of Academy midshipmen returning from winter […]

I am pleased to report that today MARAD Administrator Mark H. Buzby signed revised sea year SASH standards (the “SCCT standards”) that a shipping company […]

The USMMAAAF has been quietly working the halls of Congress since long before Homecoming to try to avert the closure of the Academy in the […]

Imagine my pleasant surprise when I received an email from Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby with additional data about sea year today.  RADM Buzby sent […]

MARAD commissioned an independent assessment to provide a “high level review of its programs and offer[] recommendations for improving the alignment of activities and authorities […]

Maritime TV runs a regular “Ask the Administrator” feature and now that RADM Mark H. Buzby has taken command as Maritime Administrator, it has posted […]

I’m returning (briefly) from post-Hurricane Maria recovery to announce that I have learned that the accreditation warning on the Academy has been removed. The Academy […]

I’m at the Academy homecoming for my 35th reunion. Some of you will recall that I went to last year’s homecoming and reported on what […]

In a few minutes, RADM Mark H. Buzby (USN Ret.) will deliver his opening statement for today’s nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee.  The […]

In my post explaining (and then criticizing) how MARAD arrived at its calculation for the percentage restoration of sea year, part of my criticism analyzed […]

George Banville, the Commissioner of the Village of Kings Point Police Department, is trying to get the word out to midshipmen at the Academy about […]

Because he is the problem. It is critical that the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy have well-defined procedures for assisting victims of sexual assault/sexual harassment (“SASH”). […]

Sea year on the Kings Pointer begins for the B-Splits In contrast with MARAD’s optimistic calculation of the restoration of sea year, a dozen or […]

We aren’t close to full restoration. Over the last six weeks, I’ve had a productive dialogue with Owen Doherty, an Associate Administrator at MARAD regarding […]

UPDATE:  Link to the full Academy monitoring report added at the end of this post. Today the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (“MSCHE”) released […]

Yesterday it was announced that President Trump intends to nominate Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark H. “Buz” Buzby, ’79, as his Maritime Administrator.  The president could […]

The whole soccer team issue sidetracked me from the post that I’ve been preparing about how MARAD calculates the restoration of sea year. I’ll try […]

Update:  At today’s court hearing, the parties reached an agreement that will allow the senior midshipmen on the soccer team to participate in graduation and […]