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Title: Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda by John Keegan ISBN: 0-375-40053-2 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Superficial
Comment: I struggled through this book. I have to be honest to say it's a disappointment, in relation to other books of John Keegan I have read.
The casestudies carry on and on about certain historical manouevres and the effects of intelligence (or combat information) on these manouevres. The cases are primarily centered on the distribution of information, thus on communication. This is very vital, but what about collection, collation, et cetera? Communication can be intersepted, but what about the relevance (and timeliness) of the communicated information? What about the developments in analyses and evaluation, about organizing intelligence? Almost nothing.
Iff you are interested in intelligence, there are better, more in-depth (and shorter) books available. For "firsttimers" I can recommend 'Spies and Spymasters' (old, still available?), a clear, concise and sometimes funny explanation of intelligence through the ages.
Excuse my English writing.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Quite to al Qaida
Comment: I found John Keegan's book well written, although the title is somewhat misleading. In my opinion, this work focuses mostly where Mr. Keegan seems to be most comfortable, in World War II. Even though some of the concepts he describes span across time, I found few take-aways for the current war on terrorism. Additionally, there appears to be more written about the military operations themselves, rather than about the intellgence influence in those ops. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Keegan defends the intelligence community, as all too often intelligence is simply a scape goat for leadership to blame when they make bad decisions. I would recommend this book to any history oriented readers interested in wars during the first half of the 20th Century.
Rating: 4
Summary: 5 for Scholarship, 3 for Missing the Point, 4 on Balance
Comment:
I feel so strongly about the misdirection of this book, its eminent author not-withstanding, that I actually did a press release responding to the early publicity. I hope you find it interesting, because we will lose many more lives and pay much migher costs in damages if we fail to reform national, military, and law enforcement intelligence at the strategic, operational, tactical, and technical levels. Send me an email if you would like to have a list of 20 really great books on intelligence.
FORMER SPY AND NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT RESPONDS TO SIR JOHN KEEGAN'S NEW BOOK TO THE EFFECT THAT INTELLIGENCE DOES NOT WIN WARS
Washington, D.C., October 23/PRNEWSWIRE/ -- Robert David Steele, a former spy and founder of the Marine Corps Intelligence Command, applauds Sir John Keegan's commentary "Forget about James Bond -intelligence never wins wars" as filed on 22/10/2003. However, Steele says, "As a long-time admirer of Sir John's prowess in understanding warfare, I must respectfully say that in this instance, he stands with the American Colonel who plaintively observed to the North Vietnamese Colonel that America won all the battles in Viet-Nam-to which the man replied, as recounted by Harry Summers, with (and I paraphrase), 'So what? That is irrelevant to the outcome.'"
Steele goes on, "Where Sir John misses the point is with respect to the distinct role of intelligence at the strategic level. As Sun Tsu (and perhaps even Colin Gray) would no doubt observe to Sir John, 'If you've gotten yourself into a war at all, then you have failed to win by other means, and it is this that is the larger intelligence failure.'"
Steele concludes, "It is my own experience that 80% of the American national security budget is wastefully expended on a heavy metal military that is useless 90% of the time. Indeed, of the $500 billion a year we spend today, we should reduce the amount spent on conventional and nuclear forces by half, while re-directing the savings toward special operations, gendarme, peace, and homeland security intelligence and counterintelligence. America has begun a hundred-year war on six different fronts precisely because the President lacked intelligence in every sense of the word, and because he and his ideologically-motivated handlers also lacked the kind of long-term diverse strategy for securing a sustainable long-term peace that can only come from a full understanding of diverse threats and circumstances. Yes, soldiers win wars. Intelligence professionals prevent wars by being prescient, clever, and covertly effective."
Mr. Steele is the author of ON INTELLIGENCE: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World (2001); THE NEW CRAFT OF INTELLIGENCE: Personal, Public, & Political (2002); and a contributing editor of PEACEKEEPING INTELLIGENCE: Emerging Concepts for the Future (2003). All can be purchased at Amazon.
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Title: Castles of Steel : Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by Robert K. Massie ISBN: 0679456716 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Ripples of Battle : How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think by Victor Hanson ISBN: 0385504004 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power by Niall Ferguson ISBN: 0465023282 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan ISBN: 1400040930 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ISBN: 0670032115 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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