It offers master's and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense civilians and international partners.

A postwar review team, which had examined 25 sites nationwide, had recommended the old Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California as a new home for the Postgraduate School.

Negotiations with the Del Monte Properties Company led to the purchase of the hotel and 627 acres (254 ha) of surrounding land for $2.13 million.

[9] On 27 November 2012, Vice Admiral Daniel T. Oliver (retired)[10] and Provost Dr. Leonard Ferrari were relieved of duty by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.

[11] A Navy press release cited findings from a Naval Inspector General investigation which included Oliver's misuse of standard contracting procedures to circumvent federal hiring and compensation authorities.

[11] The investigation also found that both Oliver and Ferrari "inappropriately accepted gifts from an independent private foundation organized to support the school.

NWSI provides operational and functional expertise as well as access to all areas of study and research, every faculty member and the entire student body.

NWSI also partners with outside entities, including the Naval War College, that complement their educational and research activities.

SLAMR uses the existing infrastructure, such as multiple 450,000 gallon water tanks that have been recently cleaned and renovated, as an affordable and sustainable location for research projects focusing on national defense applications in robotics, autonomous systems, cybersecurity and maritime related 5G telecommunications.

The location also provides a great site for youth STEM activities and the SLAMR lab has already hosted a regional high school underwater robotics competition.