Dear HII employees:
I am writing to you today concerning the events that occurred yesterday in our nation’s Capital. I am sure that you, like me, watched the painful images with feelings of shock, dismay and disbelief. But what happened was, unfortunately, very real.

At Huntington Ingalls Industries, we work day in and day out to help protect and preserve our nation’s freedom and freedom around the globe. The products we design, build and maintain, and the services we provide our nation, are intrinsically linked to the fundamentals of democracy that America was founded upon in 1776. What we witnessed yesterday was a serious breach of those fundamentals and an effort to inflict chaos and violence upon a time-honored democratic process. To say it was unacceptable is a true understatement.

Part of why many of us joined HII is because the work that we do enables us to become part of something bigger than ourselves. The hard stuff that you do right every day is wrapped in the American flag and meant to uphold, not only the values of our company, but the values of our country.

Make no mistake. While our nation may be wounded by the despicable acts of yesterday, I have no doubt that democracy will prevail. Violence will not win. In fact, we witnessed this when the Congress went back to work and fulfilled its obligations and certified the Electoral College votes. America is too strong of a country, and we will learn from this and become even stronger. And it’s our responsibility at HII to stay focused on, and committed to, the important work we do to help our nation heal and to enable that strength to live on well past the events of one day.

We will get through this, together.

Mike Petters
President and CEO
Huntington Ingalls Industries