Rating: 
Summary: Author Responds to Inaccurate Comment
Review:
The reviewer who attributes my views on the roots of terrorism is surely a well-meaning person, but was much too quick to apply a personal bias on Chomsky to my own work. For the record, I was one of the first CIA Clandestine Service case officers assigned terrorism as a full-time target, hence have something of an operational understanding not available to the general public including Chomsky and the reviewer in question; 2) my educational work includes an undergraduate thesis on multinational corporate operations in the Third World; a first graduate thesis on the causes of revolution; and a second graduate thesis on strategic and tactical information management for national security (what can we and what do we know about the real world in order to make effective policy); 3) my life includes thirty years of residence overseas from which my direct observations on poverty, disease, and other conditions including corruption are applicable.
The comment about needing a filter and Chomsky should therefore be regarded as inaccurate. The book includes a 135 page annotated bibliography and a 25 page guide to web sites about corruption, cyber-advocacy, disease, education, environment, genocide, homeland defense, instability, intelligence, proliferation, slavery and human trafficking, starvation, terrorism, and transnational crime. In my view as the author, the previous review misrepresents the depth and breadth of the book in a grevious manner that requires my respectful response.
Rating:
Summary: Author Responds to Inaccurate Comment
Review:
The reviewer who attributes my views on the roots of terrorism is surely a well-meaning person, but was much too quick to apply a personal bias on Chomsky to my own work. For the record, I was one of the first CIA Clandestine Service case officers assigned terrorism as a full-time target, hence have something of an operational understanding not available to the general public including Chomsky and the reviewer in question; 2) my educational work includes an undergraduate thesis on multinational corporate operations in the Third World; a first graduate thesis on the causes of revolution; and a second graduate thesis on strategic and tactical information management for national security (what can we and what do we know about the real world in order to make effective policy); 3) my life includes thirty years of residence overseas from which my direct observations on poverty, disease, and other conditions including corruption are applicable.
The comment about needing a filter and Chomsky should therefore be regarded as inaccurate. The book includes a 135 page annotated bibliography and a 25 page guide to web sites about corruption, cyber-advocacy, disease, education, environment, genocide, homeland defense, instability, intelligence, proliferation, slavery and human trafficking, starvation, terrorism, and transnational crime. In my view as the author, the previous review misrepresents the depth and breadth of the book in a grevious manner that requires my respectful response.
Rating: 
Summary: Thar She Blows!
Review: A whale of a blowhard spews a fountain of lies and half-truths. Steele obviously lacks the self-disciple to either limit his caloric intake or to think critically about our post 911 world. This guy thinks that Richard Clarke knows what he is talking about. 'Nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: Thar She Blows!
Review: A whale of a blowhard spews a fountain of lies and half-truths. Steele obviously lacks the self-disciple to either limit his caloric intake or to think critically about our post 911 world. This guy thinks that Richard Clarke knows what he is talking about. 'Nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: What to do to understand the revolution
Review: Homeland secutity is based upon individual security brought about by individual understanding. It is not brought about by surrendering individual freedom so that government can make us secure. Steele explains why this is and what to do. Read this and Poole's Phantom Soldier and you'll understand of why most of the world's people hate America.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, original, useful thinking!
Review: I have watched the author's work over the past decade and consistently have been impressed by the originality of his vision and his determination to speak the truth, no matter the cost. As a long-time intelligence professional, I recognize the complexity of the system and the difficulty of making even incremental improvements, yet, by his energy and talent Robert David Steele is one of the few who have made an unmistakable difference. The dismaying events of September 11, 2001, confirmed much of what Steele had written and said, and undercut the arguments of his remaining critics (bureaucrats will always defend their turf). Now, in this latest book, Steele expands upon his unique, incisive and practical vision of what needs to be done to give the American people the quality of strategic intelligence they deserve. No individual will ever get it all right and there are certainly some things in this book with which I disagree--but that's healthy. An honest debate is far more valuable than the arrogance of those who classify our failures and failings. And even disagreeing with Steele is as stimulating as having an open-ended charge account in a high-class bordello on a Saturday night in the middle of a Civil War. Fascinating man, fascinating book. Very highly recommended. And the forward by Senator Pat Roberts, who has himself been fighting the good fight for years, puts the problem of intelligence precisely into context. In fairness, I must note that I supplied a supporting quote to the author for this book--but I believe so completely in the importance of his work that I will always go the extra step to bring additional attention to his theses and arguments. Well done!
Rating:
Summary: Superb, original, useful thinking!
Review: I have watched the author's work over the past decade and consistently have been impressed by the originality of his vision and his determination to speak the truth, no matter the cost. As a long-time intelligence professional, I recognize the complexity of the system and the difficulty of making even incremental improvements, yet, by his energy and talent Robert David Steele is one of the few who have made an unmistakable difference. The dismaying events of September 11, 2001, confirmed much of what Steele had written and said, and undercut the arguments of his remaining critics (bureaucrats will always defend their turf). Now, in this latest book, Steele expands upon his unique, incisive and practical vision of what needs to be done to give the American people the quality of strategic intelligence they deserve. No individual will ever get it all right and there are certainly some things in this book with which I disagree--but that's healthy. An honest debate is far more valuable than the arrogance of those who classify our failures and failings. And even disagreeing with Steele is as stimulating as having an open-ended charge account in a high-class bordello on a Saturday night in the middle of a Civil War. Fascinating man, fascinating book. Very highly recommended. And the forward by Senator Pat Roberts, who has himself been fighting the good fight for years, puts the problem of intelligence precisely into context. In fairness, I must note that I supplied a supporting quote to the author for this book--but I believe so completely in the importance of his work that I will always go the extra step to bring additional attention to his theses and arguments. Well done!
Rating:
Summary: Review of The New Craft of Inteligence
Review: My deepest hope for the United States, and indeed, Earth is that decision makers would read this book, stew over it, let it keep them up at nights, and to finally get down to business. This book serves as a tocsin for the nation to wake up to the challenges we are presently facing and those that are just around the bend.
As a nurse with an interest in public health issues, this book states a great case for the claim that "The idea that the health of every nation depends on the health of all others is not an empty piety but an epidemiological fact." That's no joke brothers and sisters; 59 countries with modern plagues can be ignored only to our peril.
Rating:
Summary: Previous Comment Unrelated to Book
Review: Richard Clarke is not mentioned in this book. The commentator is probably reacting to mý favorable review of Clarke's own book, or to my negative review (one of only three totally negative reviews out of over 460 reviews posted) of Endgame. Clarke has his detractors, and with good reason, but that does not mean we should dismiss the substance of his contributions. The comment is therefore inappropriate and unrelated to the book. All of my reviews can be viewed by clicking on "see more about me"--in two hours, a fast reader can absorb 460+ "snapshots" in the literatures of information, intelligence, emerging threats, US force structure and strategy, global anti-Americanism, and the negative impact of domestic US politics on the soundness of our foreign policy and behavior. A free chapter of this specific book, as with my other books, is available free at oss.net.
Rating:
Summary: Previous Comment Unrelated to Book
Review: Richard Clarke is not mentioned in this book. The commentator is probably reacting to mý favorable review of Clarke's own book, or to my negative review (one of only three totally negative reviews out of over 460 reviews posted) of Endgame. Clarke has his detractors, and with good reason, but that does not mean we should dismiss the substance of his contributions. The comment is therefore inappropriate and unrelated to the book. All of my reviews can be viewed by clicking on "see more about me"--in two hours, a fast reader can absorb 460+ "snapshots" in the literatures of information, intelligence, emerging threats, US force structure and strategy, global anti-Americanism, and the negative impact of domestic US politics on the soundness of our foreign policy and behavior. A free chapter of this specific book, as with my other books, is available free at oss.net.
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