This is the true story of a man who fulfilled his destiny. He was just a country boy from Nebraska who grew up to achieve great things for his country. A multitude of short stories that chronicle his life begins with his parents. To know them is to know him. Through them, he received an adventurous childhood and he was instilled with a value system that governed his life. The story continues with wartime exploits, travels to Iran and Pakistan, and world-wide assignments. The story includes some people that he met along the way; some famous and some not so famous. The man was a soldier. A professional soldier who rose through the ranks and was considered the expert at the top of his chosen career field. Life after the Army has involved local politics, community service, recreation and retail sales. His primary wish in life is to see his grand children grow up and not have to follow in his footsteps.
"This compendium of research on insider threats is essential reading for all personnel with accountabilities for security; it shows graphically the extent and persistence of the threat that all organizations face and against which they must take preventive measures." — Roger Howsley, Executive Director, World Institute for Nuclear Security High-security organizations around the world face devastating threats from insiders—trusted employees with access to sensitive information, facilities, and materials. From Edward Snowden to the Fort Hood shooter to the theft of nuclear materials, the threat from insiders is on the front page and at the top of the policy agenda. Insider Threats offers detailed case studies of insider disasters across a range of different types of institutions, from biological research laboratories, to nuclear power plants, to the U.S. Army. Matthew Bunn and Scott D. Sagan outline cognitive and organizational biases that lead organizations to downplay the insider threat, and they synthesize "worst practices" from these past mistakes, offering lessons that will be valuable for any organization with high security and a lot to lose. Insider threats pose dangers to anyone who handles information that is secret or proprietary, material that is highly valuable or hazardous, people who must be protected, or facilities that might be sabotaged. This is the first book to offer in-depth case studies across a range of industries and contexts, allowing entities such as nuclear facilities and casinos to learn from each other. It also offers an unprecedented analysis of terrorist thinking about using insiders to get fissile material or sabotage nuclear facilities. Contributors: Matthew Bunn, Harvard University; Andreas Hoelstad Dæhli, Oslo; Kathryn M. Glynn, IBM Global Business Services; Thomas Hegghammer, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Oslo; Austin Long, Columbia University; Scott D. Sagan, Stanford University; Ronald Schouten, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jessica Stern, Harvard University; Amy B. Zegart, Stanford University
Embedded Enemy is the true story of the unprecedented deadly attack against the men and women of Headquarters and Headquarters Company First Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Shortly after deploying for the war in Iraq, the Bastogne Brigade was staged at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait where they prepared for combat against Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime. During the eerie, pitch-black, early morning hours of 23 March 2003, a fellow American soldier, Sergeant Hasan Akbar, executed the unthinkable and unlikeliest of scenarios by throwing hand grenades into his Chain of Command's tents. He then followed up with small-arms fire while his Commanding Officers slept in preparation for war.The wicked aftermath killed two officers and wounded 12 others. Six soldiers were evacuated, never to return-all were vital to the unit's arduous mission. Despite the tragic deaths in the most unfathomable way, the Bastogne Brigade received movement orders to cross the border into Iraq just 48 hours after the attack.This story is about how the soldiers bonded together to rescue, treat, and evacuate their brothers at arms in the midst of the shadows of darkness, massive explosions, rapid gun fire, suffocating smoke, body ripping shrapnel, and complete and total chaos and confusion. All of this was accomplished while simultaneously searching for a ruthless killer that had taken the same oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against foreign enemies. Little did they realize they would meet the most improbable of adversaries-one of their very own-an "Embedded Enemy."This event shocked the Armed Forces, America, and people around the world. It forced everyone to more carefully consider whom we really trust and to begin to digest the idea that threats to our personal safety might now come "from the inside."
Winner of the 2019 William E. Colby Award "The book I had been waiting for. I can't recommend it highly enough." —Bill Gates The era of autonomous weapons has arrived. Today around the globe, at least thirty nations have weapons that can search for and destroy enemy targets all on their own. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in next-generation warfare, describes these and other high tech weapons systems—from Israel’s Harpy drone to the American submarine-hunting robot ship Sea Hunter—and examines the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. “A smart primer to what’s to come in warfare” (Bruce Schneier), Army of None engages military history, global policy, and cutting-edge science to explore the implications of giving weapons the freedom to make life and death decisions. A former soldier himself, Scharre argues that we must embrace technology where it can make war more precise and humane, but when the choice is life or death, there is no replacement for the human heart.
A TLS and a Prospect Book of the Year A revelatory, explosive new analysis of the British military today. Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Britain has changed enormously. During this time, the British Army fought two campaigns, in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost. Yet neither war achieved its objectives. This book questions why, and provides challenging but necessary answers. Composed from assiduous documentary research, field reportage, and hundreds of interviews with many soldiers and officers who served, as well as the politicians who directed them, the allies who accompanied them, and the family members who loved and — on occasion — lost them, it is a strikingly rich, nuanced portrait of one of our pivotal national institutions in a time of great stress. Award-winning journalist Simon Akam, who spent a year in the army when he was 18, returned a decade later to see how the institution had changed. His book examines the relevance of the armed forces today — their social, economic, political, and cultural role. This is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics of failure, as it is about the military.
Donaldson's fiercely candid observations reveal much about the political life of the Army of the Potomac, and his letters contribute unforgettable descriptions of actions at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Fiercely idealistic in the early days of the war, his letters and diary soon betray a growing disenchantment that leads to a startling climax. 28 photos, 6 maps.
In the eighth action-packed thriller in the New York Times bestselling Pike Logan series, ISIS, the most maniacal terrorist organization the modern world has ever seen, is poised to make their most audacious strike yet. The United States has anticipated and averted countless attacks from terrorist groups—thanks in large part to the extralegal counterterrorist unit known as the Taskforce. But in The Insider Threat, a much more insidious evil is about to shatter the false sense of safety surrounding civilized nations. While world powers combat ISIS on the battlefield, a different threat is set in motion by the group—one that can’t be defeated by an airstrike. Off the radar of every Western intelligence organization, able to penetrate America or any European state, they intend to commit an act of unimaginable barbarity. Only Pike Logan and the Taskforce stand in the way of an attack no one anticipates, a grand deception that will wreak unthinkable chaos and reverberate throughout the Western world.
From the bestselling author of The Assault on Intelligence, an unprecedented high-level master narrative of America's intelligence wars, demonstrating in a time of new threats that espionage and the search for facts are essential to our democracy For General Michael Hayden, playing to the edge means playing so close to the line that you get chalk dust on your cleats. Otherwise, by playing back, you may protect yourself, but you will be less successful in protecting America. "Play to the edge" was Hayden's guiding principle when he ran the National Security Agency, and it remained so when he ran CIA. In his view, many shortsighted and uninformed people are quick to criticize, and this book will give them much to chew on but little easy comfort; it is an unapologetic insider's look told from the perspective of the people who faced awesome responsibilities head on, in the moment. How did American intelligence respond to terrorism, a major war and the most sweeping technological revolution in the last 500 years? What was NSA before 9/11 and how did it change in its aftermath? Why did NSA begin the controversial terrorist surveillance program that included the acquisition of domestic phone records? What else was set in motion during this period that formed the backdrop for the infamous Snowden revelations in 2013? As Director of CIA in the last three years of the Bush administration, Hayden had to deal with the rendition, detention and interrogation program as bequeathed to him by his predecessors. He also had to ramp up the agency to support its role in the targeted killing program that began to dramatically increase in July 2008. This was a time of great crisis at CIA, and some agency veterans have credited Hayden with actually saving the agency. He himself won't go that far, but he freely acknowledges that CIA helped turn the American security establishment into the most effective killing machine in the history of armed conflict. For 10 years, then, General Michael Hayden was a participant in some of the most telling events in the annals of American national security. General Hayden's goals are in writing this book are simple and unwavering: No apologies. No excuses. Just what happened. And why. As he writes, "There is a story here that deserves to be told, without varnish and without spin. My view is my view, and others will certainly have different perspectives, but this view deserves to be told to create as complete a history as possible of these turbulent times. I bear no grudges, or at least not many, but I do want this to be a straightforward and readable history for that slice of the American population who depend on and appreciate intelligence, but who do not have the time to master its many obscure characteristics."
In June 1990, Paul Crenshaw shipped out for basic training for the National Guard. By August, Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait. Each day brought more news of mobilizing forces. For weeks, Crenshaw was told he was going to war, but after graduation, he went back home to Arkansas and watched CNN every night, lying about how much he wished he had been deployed. Later, after Crenshaw had gotten out of the army, he began to question the reasons for the wars we fight. The essays here follow his time in the service, from Basic Training to weekend National Guard drills and the years after. Crenshaw moves from eager recruit to father worrying that his daughters might enlist. He watches the airplanes strike the Twin Towers and sees two new wars ignite out of the ashes of the old. He writes as a soldier who did not see combat but who wonders what constant combat might do to U.S. soldiers, how it affects them, and how the wars we fight affect us all. These essays reflect deeply on American culture and military life—how easily we buy into ideas of good versus bad, us versus them; how we see soldiers as heroes when more often than not they are young boys barely old enough to shave; how many return home broken while we only wave our flags instead of trying to fix them and the ideas that sent them to war.
"How do we understand the functions of militaries of democratic societies? How good soldiers are made, how they behave when posted overseas, the issue of gender and the increased use of military beyond their core functions all demand a closer academic examination. This edited collection ... examines the identity and functions of the New Zealand Army from a range of perspectives. Drawing on anthropology, political studies, international relations, development studies, law, and defence and security studies, it provides a multi-faceted view of one military organisation, and helps further our understanding of the character and the challenges of military personnel and institutions in the twenty-first century"--Publisher's description.
