Agency-securities Books

I first ran across 'Inside France's DGSE: The General Directorate for External Security (Inside the World's Most Famous Intelligence Agencies)' at a used bookstore in Harvard Square. Nestled in the stacks with my corn muffin and Dunkin Donuts coffee, I consumed it it ravenously (the book, not the muffin), savoring each brilliantly-rendered paragraph between sips of richly aromatic java. It has been said that Polisar's writing is a masterpiece of ironic detachment. Verily, she observes that France's DGSE, like its society, is mysterious and unfathomable. One has only to examine the agency's motto: 'Partout où nécessité fait loi' ("In every place where necessity makes law") to find proof of this. The book is well constructed and features a serviceable binding. Page texture is robust and of adequate weight. The ending brought unexpected tears and an emotional catharsis (a Polisar trademark since her work with analog computing pioneers of the early 1980s). I highly recommend this book.

I came across Ms. Polisar's book while doing research for an adult mystery novel. Even though recommended for ages 9-12, it is by far the best resource - in either French or English - for those wanting to learn about the history and organization of France's General Directorate for External Security (their version of the CIA). This slim, well-written volume offers a wealth of information in a concise, compelling form.

In dealing with terrorists, it's a slippery slope to avoid to not become as bad as the terrorists themselves. Compiled and edited by Steve Tsang, "Intelligence and Human Rights in the Era of Global Terrorism" is an informative body of work focusing upon the 'War on Terror' and how to go about waging it while still respecting basic human rights. Stating that the best weapon is peace to turn potential terrorists away from becoming terrorists in the first place is just one among many other useful ideas and tactics to be employed if we are to succeed in overcoming global terrorism in the 21st Century. A very strongly recommended addition for community and academic library reference collections, as well as the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the subject, "Intelligence and Human Rights in the Era of Global Terrorism" is a must for those who want a realistic plan for winning the war on terrorism.

This is a fantastic book, balanced, well written and insightful. The editor argues that we need to strike the right balance between the need to maintain security and protecting human rights. We not only need to stop terrorist attacks but also pre-empt terrorist organizations from recruiting more suicide bombers. This requires more than the effective use of force and intelligence. We need to prove our culture is genuinely superior, and this can only be achieved by respecting the rights of individuals. One of the chapters by a former senior Israeli intelligence officer is also amazingly insightful in explaining why Western Intelligence agencies all failed over the Iraq WMD issue prior to the invasion of Iraq. Most highly recommended.

This book is an excellent commentary on the work of the UN in the post-Cold War world, focusing on both the legal and political aspects of peacekeeping and intervention. The review of the reactions (or lack thereof) of the Security Council to conflicts is balanced and informative, as it takes the reader step by step through the UN Charter and the options available to the Security Council. The section on peacekeeping also deserves credit, as it probes the legal issues involved in peacekeeping.

This book is an excellent commentary on the work of the UN in the post-Cold War world, focusing on both the legal and political aspects of peacekeeping and intervention. The review of the reactions (or lack thereof) of the Security Council to conflicts is balanced and informative, as it takes the reader step by step through the UN Charter and the options available to the Security Council. The section on peacekeeping also deserves credit, as it probes the legal issues involved in peacekeeping.

Together with C. K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks), this book redirected my life. Although I have been an intelligence and operations professional all my life, and spent the last 20 years kicking doors down all over the world to get secret intelligence communities to focus on the 96% of the information they could get legally, ethically, and generally free or at very low cost, I was lacking a strategic frame of reference.

This book literally blew my mind into smithereens. Starting with the fact that LtGen Dr. Brent Scowcorft is one of the last adults still standing with his integrity intact, I was moved to the core of my being by the following list, which is in priority order:

01 Poverty
02 Infectious Disease
03 Environmental Degradation
04 Inter-State Conflict
05 Civil War
06 Genocide
07 Other Atrocities
08 Proliferation
09 Terrorism
10 Transnational Crime

I cannot under-state the force with which this list hit me. In combination with Prahalad's book, which makes the point that capitalism is focused on the billion rich with a one trillion marketplace, while the five billion poor represent a FOUR trillion marketplace, I suddenly realized that the Panel had delivered one side of a strategic matrix for creating a prosperous world at peace.

Despite the existence of other superb books, such as High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them; The Future of Life; and Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Third Edition, no one--no one--had created a list in priority order that calls into question every national security budget on the planet, but especially that of the USA.

These two books led to my decision to sell my for-profit, OSS.Net, and create, with 23 other co-founders, the Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3 Public Charity, and to commit myself to being intelligence officer to the poor for the remainder of my life.

I will just list the twelve policies and the eight humanities below, all other information is at EIN, and I do not want to distract from other reviews. This book, this list, is the single most important first step in empowering the collective intelligence of the public to the point that we can eradicate corruption, protect our commonwealths, and achieve a prosperous world at peace.

Twelve policies that must be harmonized at the budget level across all Nations and corporations and foundations, and organizations (this is important because governments are organized as stovepipes--it is lunacy to use up water we don't have to grow grain we do not need to create ethanal with food instead of sugar cane, bacteria, or algae):

01 Agriculture
02 Diplomacy
03 Economy
04 Education
05 Energy
06 Family
07 Health
08 Immigration
09 Justice
10 Security
11 Society
12 Water

The eight humanities (this is important because nothing the US or EU do unless we create, within seven years, an EarthGame that helps these dominant demographics avoid our mistakes:

01 Brazil
02 China
03 India
04 Indonesia
05 Iran
06 Russia
07 Venezuela
08 Wild Cards (e.g. Congo)

There are so many books relevant to all of the above I must point to my lists, but want to list just a couple of future-oriented books here, the last being the first by EIN (free online, but lovely here at Amazon):

The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

This book is nothing less than a report made by a High-level Panel on the threats, challenges and change our world faces. This group of experts from different countries was established by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, with the idea of using the conclusions presented here to adapt the United Nations to what is happening nowadays, in order to make it more effective.

Among other subjects, this report delves in six kinds of threats that should concern the world. That is, war between States; violence within States (including civil wars and large-scale human rights abuses); poverty, infectious disease and environmental degradation; nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological weapons; terrorism; and transnational organized crime. It also includes and explains policies to prevent them, and should that fail, adequate response to them. What is more, this book has some guidelines for the use of force in such cases, as well as reflections regarding peace enforcemen, peacekeeping capability, and post-conflict peacebuilding. Finally, ways of revitalizing existing institutions are discussed, along with the possibility of creating new institutions to meet evolving challenges.

What does Kofi Annan think about the report the High-level Panel he established produced?. Well, in his own words "This is a report of great range and depth, which sets out a broad framework for collective security, and indeed gives a broader meaning to that concept, appropriate for the new millennium. It suggests not only ways to deal with particular threats, but also new ways of understanding the connections between them, and explains what this implies in terms of shared policies and institutions". Furthermore, the Secretary-General points out that he agrees with the report's core argument that a comprehensive system of collective security that tackles both new and old threats, taking into account that all are interconnected, is essential. As a result, all strategies must be comprehensive, if they are to have a chance of being successful.

In my opinion, "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility" is perfect reading material for those interested in International Relations, and also for people who are merely curious regarding what some experts whose job is to try to understand the new tendencies think about them. After all, this is a problem that concerns us all...

Before ending this review, I would like to highlight the fact that a free copy of this report is available in the UN's website, in case you want to browse it before buying this book, something I recommend you to do.

Belen Alcat

Tony Vaux took a job that landed him in Kosovo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia, Azerbaijan and Rwanda. He worked for Oxfam, one of the world's premier development and relief organizations. In his work, he helped some of the poorest and hungriest people on this planet. He believed his work vital, but he observed and raised questions. He saw that what needed to be done frequently did not get done. Vaux and his associates, over stressed and under funded, decided sometimes who would live and who would not. Food and medical aid became entangled with politics and military action. Many of the people helped were less than innocent and sometimes guilty of horrific crimes. Helping the vulnerable, the most laudable of tasks, he found, can itself be corrupting.

What saves this book from becoming another "realist" tome about how awful and hopeless we humans are, is Vaux's willingness to probe his own psyche as well as others'. We're often able to make ourselves quite comfortable with the assessment that the human race is, as Vaux states, "a species of exceptional brutality and cruelty" (page iv). We object only when the accusation is made against ourselves. If our accuser presses on and places before us our own behavior, we may admit that, yes, sometimes we have, under certain circumstances, acted brutally. But, we hasten to explain: circumstances forced us to act so. We had our reasons. They made us do it. It's a cruel world. Vaux rejects this sophistry. He admits, "the possibility that I too could be a killer." (184) By "killer" he does not mean that he could serve in a UN peacekeeping force. He means he is fully capable of having been on the wrong side in Somalia, Bosnia or Rwanda.

From this non-privileged position, Vaux recounts debates among Oxfam staff about the identity of the organization: will it aim to promote development or be an emergency relief action? Should Oxfam deliver aid to a society that oppresses women to the point that women will not benefit from the aid - or should the organization try to save as many lives as possible, even if most of them will be male? Will accepting help from one side in a conflict - in this case trucks with armed soldiers to deliver food - compromise Oxfam's neutrality and its future effectiveness?

It is also from this position that he raises his most fundamental issue. Vaux points out that aid workers are in positions of power and that power corrupts. Aid organizations and workers develop interests, organizational and personal, in seeing that acts are done in a certain way and that they receive credit. "Saving lives," he writes, "can be intoxicating, especially when people are weak and vulnerable." (94) "The motive of pity so easily interacts with the motive for cruelty, and the desire to help so easily becomes the desire for power. .... Managers in the `disaster relief industry', like those in charge of homes for children or the elderly, have the opportunity to abuse power because they are dealing with vulnerable people." (95) Pity becomes contempt.

But, Vaux argues, "Self-knowledge is the prerequisite of humanity." (72) "(T)o be happy requires a(n) ... abandonment of self - an ability to rejoice in other's success and in the formation of their altruism." (180) As another person has pointed out, aid may be something done to people. Better is to do something for people. But the best is to do something with people. Only the worker who has abandoned "self" is able to work with people.

One of Vaux's clear intentions when constructing the questions throughout this work is achieving a personal catharsis. The motivations and decision making apparatus of himself and the aid community come under mercilessly objective evaluation. The graphic nature of the situations may tempt the reader to give in to the hoplessness that front line aid workers experience, though dwelling on the situations descibed in this book would be, in my opinion, missing the point. The point is understanding why we do the things that we do. Can an aid provider ( NGO ) overlook causality and bring aid to the person in need? Will attempts to affect causality do more harm than good? Do underlying motivations exist that influence the manner in which aid is provided? The answers to these questions are not simple or finite.

This book forced me to be introspective in ways that few others have. If you want a true lesson in disciplining your objectivity it's definitely worth the time.

The first word that came to my mind after reading this piece of literature, that best describes my reading experience of this well researched and well told account of the Stasi is, "Chilling." This book scared me out of my wits. It amazed me to read about how the East Germans were basically kept walled up in a type of concentration camp, sort of like the Jews and how they were terrorized by the brutal, ruthless Stasi organization up until just little over a decade ago. I would have been to weak to survive the Stasi and probably would have made a haste attempt to escape the Berlin Wall, as so many others did. I can now see why so many died trying to escape past the wall, even though they knew that they stood a very poor chance of making it. Death was more comforting to them from what I gather, than being stuck for just one more day under the Stazi and its microscope. I now know why the East Germans had so much fun smashing the wall to pieces. They were being released to freedom and for many of them, freedom had become nothing more then a dream, a miracle, under the Stasi. I believe after reading about how the Stasi got things done that the Stasi was as ruthless as the Gestapo and the NKVD, expecially when reading about accounts of their interrogations. The Stasi kept total order among the East German people and it was fascinating to read and find out how the Stasi crushed any and all attempts that could challenge its authority, any attempts of political uprisings and how the Stasi simply controlled the East German people with fear and intimidation. It amazed me to read about the fellow who informed on his wife, even though they had been married for such a long time. The Stazi was very powerful, even more powerful than love. This wonderful work of literature gives some terrific information that helps to better understand the Cold War and it paints a wonderful picture of how communist nations and dictatorships work behind the scenes. The one thing that I found to be most interesting about this book was that the Stasi did not limit itself just to controlling the East German people, but rather it extended its feelers and spied on the West, sabotaged NATO, etc. The Stasi and it's international agents really got around. This book should definitely be read by any and all interested in the Cold War, espionage, secret police agencies and last but not least, Germany and its recent past. This book does not exhaust various issues related to the Stasi, as many other novels written about secret security organizations based on interviews, files, etc., do, such as the 700 page, plus Mitrokhin Archieve which is about the KGB, but simply discusses different Stasi issues in lengths appropriate to their importance, that keep the reader interested. This book gave me a message I will not soon forget and that is, "trust no one if you know what's good for your survival."

Mr Koehler get's rare interviews from the "horses mouth" & has done some tremendous work in this book. His attention to detail is fantastic with times, dates, etc. Mr. Koehler should also be applauded for bringing the truth to light about Marcus Wolf's Man without a face book where he takes almost no responsibility to the destruction of many East Germans lives & knowing about the terrorist movement in the DDR. This is an outstanding book of facts & follows closely the life of the notorious henceman Erich Meilke. It is also amazing to watch the birth of a country like East Germany after just witnessing the 3rd reich, which they became so much like. Sadly, as people we haven't learned much!

Professor Bozeman makes it absolutely clear that anyone attempting to understand causation and motivation for the turmoil that leads to terrorist acts must get under the skin of the actors involved. We in the West particularly need to learn to lay aside our collection of presumptions about paramount human values.

While reading this book, every intelligence professional should feel like a bashful second-grader shuffling their feet while being kindly reprimanded by their teacher. This book, a collection of essays from the 1980's, is the only one I have ever found that truly grasps the strategic long-term importance of intelligence in the context of culture and general knowledge. The heart of the book is on page 177: "(There is a need) to recognize that just as the essence of knowledge is not as split up into academic disciplines as it is in our academic universe, so can intelligence not be set apart from statecraft and society, or subdivided into elements...such as analysis and estimates, counterintelligence, clandestine collection, covert action, and so forth. Rather, and as suggested earlier in this essay, intelligence is a scheme of things entire. And since it permeates thought and life throughout society, Western scholars must understand all aspects of a state's culture before they can assess statecraft and intelligence." The 25-page introduction, at least, should be read by every intelligence professional.

Try reading this book. It incites the desire in me to shrink it down to something else, like any psychiatrist would approach a case of psychotic multiplicity. There are a number of individuals with credible positions presented in this book, and the summaries of those positions express matters that are highly important. The problem with the story is that, instead of hinging on the things that are important, the whole picture is in danger of becoming unhinged whenever a decision approaches the bottom line. This is like great art which has no conception that the whole world might see this picture and consider it absolutely nukers. As crazy as all the other nukers in the world might seem to us, it takes a lot of effort to keep from applying the same judgment to the system which inflicts the costs mainly on ourselves. There are things in this book, like William Greider's comment about "payoffs for layoffs" on page 200, which make it too obvious which bottom line matters. His personal suggestion to "turn out the lights rather than waste all this money waiting for world war three" (p. 201) is coupled with his knowledge of officers who "question this choice of toys over boys" (p. 202) because of what's happening: "they're being rolled by the industry." (p. 202) Even Wilson has to report that "There are too many fiefdoms." (p. 202) That might be the main conclusion here, except that it is followed by some comment about a president who would rather "chat by the side of the road until a compromise route is agreed upon." (p. 203) The index doesn't have an entry for "depleted uranium" weapons, but we are still planning for some part of the world to become a dumping ground for our bombs, and it is highly unlikely that there will be much of a chat by the side of the road before the choice of mistakes on where we can hurt our enemies the most is made. The story of how "the American military's fighting edge was being lost for lack of money" (p. 90) hardly makes sense in a world that keeps complaining when we do destroy things.

George C. Wilson is simply the best reporter alive writing about the American military. THIS WAR REALLY MATTERS brings into the cold light of day the federal budgetary process and its effect on national defense issues. The book is relatively short--just twelve chapters--and is written in the clear, easy-to-understand style of the professional reporter Wilson certainly is. He tackles the tough questions: Why is the military orgainzed the way it is? Does it have the weapons it needs to fight now and in the future? Why and how are new weapons systems procured? As you might suspect, Wilson confirms, It's the money, Stupid! THIS WAR REALLY MATTERS is a literate, lucid masterpiece that should be read by every military officer and candidate for federal office. It should also be read and re-read by every student interested in the way decisions are made in a major democracy.

fast, speedy clean transaction. pleased with books condition. thank you. will definately do business again!!

The book I received was in great condition and the service was prompt. It was the best price I could find.

James Sutterlin served for many years as a senior director with the UN headquarters in New York. He has worked alongside several UN Secretary-Generals. So I feel he is well qualified to know what he is talking about.

Mr. Sutterlin writes directly and with an authorative style on the UN's role in maintaining the balance of peace, in an often troubled world. He opens this book by acknowledging that with the end of the Cold War, the world has entered a new era in International relations and thus; security and peace issues that need to be confronted are now more complex than ever before.

His book looks at prevention of conflict, the use of military forces to enforce peace; stopping aggressive actions of states, building of peace and the emergence of terrorism and issues of weapons of mass destruction. The book also discusses the emergence of regional organisations such as: ASEAN, OAS, OAU (AU), the EU and NATO.Mr. Sutterlin concludes his excellent book by examining the post of the UN Secretary-General; with an informative insight into what has been described as the world's most difficult job.

In summary a first class book, which examines the various operations and involvement of the UN with international security. The author questions does the UN need to reassess itself in an ever-changing world? The world of today is, or course, completely different to the world of 63 years ago, when the UN first commenced its work. This book is an excellent reference for the student of the United Nations and its work with international security. Full of references and a good bibliography. The book was written in 2003 and a new, third edition would be welcome. Well done, James Sutterlin!

This book is organized, well-written, and brilliant.