A unique insider's survey of the many failures of U.S. military intelligence spans the course of American history to show how intelligence blunders have cost lives and money, looking at the blunders of Desert Storm, Grenada, Vietnam, and others.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Inspired by intelligence failures he observed as an infantry officer in Vietnam (where he "did not receive a single bit of accurate, useful intelligence"), Lanning, a retired army colonel, has put together an informative and charged review of the shortfall in U.S. military intelligence from the Revolutionary War to the ill-fated 1993 attempt to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid. Much of his emphasis is on the frequency with which U.S. armed forces have been taken by surprise: in this century, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the German counterstroke in the Ardennes, the North Korean invasion of South Korea, the Communist Tet Offensive in Vietnam. In the section on Operation Desert Storm, Lanning argues that intelligence about the battle zone was sparse and mostly inaccurate. Calling for reevaluation, reorganization and revitalization of the military intelligence community, he advocates a drastic realignment of U.S. armed forces: reuniting the Air Force with the Army, abolishing the Marine Corps and taking specific steps to reduce the gap between the intelligence corps and the troops in the field. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A hopelessly flawed book apparently written in anger.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the Present (Hardcover)
It is a sad thing to find a book so needed, and yet so useless. Michael Lee Lanning's "Senseless Secrets" is allegedly about the failures of military intelligence throughout America's history. Unfortunately, the book only illuminates the author's failure in objectivity. Mr. Lanning's failure occurs from the very outset, when he incorrectly defines "intelligence" and "military intelligence." Forever afterwards the author then confuses military intelligence failures with policy failures, leadership failures, communications failures, and plain bad luck. So muddled is the author's analysis that this reviewer could not find much of value to book whatsoever. For instance, even though it is allegedly about military intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency is mentioned just twice in the entire book. Yet when April Glaspie fumbles her words when addressing Saddam Hussein in 1990 about Kuwait, he attributes the remark to an "intell! igence failure." This book is a great disappointment: the value of intelligence, and of military intelligence is a critical issue to nations worldwide. Readers will have to await another book to find out whether military intelligence has proven it mettle. This reviewer believes that Mr. Lanning could have come up with the seminal book, but didn't have an editor astute enough to team him up with somebody who had direct experience in military intelligence. The book contains no photographs, timelines, tables or other material that would have been useful to the reader. Basic maps are provided, however. The book lists references, by chapter. The list is impressive, and demonstrates the author conducted significant research.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Lightweight historian,
By
This review is from: Senseless secrets: The failures of U.S. military intelligence from George Washington to the present (Hardcover)
Lanning spent twenty years in the military. He should have limited his examination of American military intelligence to those years. His coverage of much earlier periods (Revolutionary War through the Civil War - the chapters I've read so far.) leave much to be desired. It is obvious that his knowledge of these periods is scant. This book reads as if it was rushed into print and the necessary research on earlier historical periods was not done. This could have been a good book, but when you read it and notice the numerous errors pertaining to early American military history, you have to wonder if Lanning makes the same errors in the period he has experience in. The biggest problem here is that someone who shares his cursory knowledge of these periods will walk away thinking they now know the real history of American military intelligence.
Later - I've completed the book and I support almost all the arguments in the other negative reviews listed here. Intelligence analysts are suppose to offer opinions *and* provide the data to back up those opinions. Lanning prefers to have you believe what he has written simply because he wrote it. There is not one citation in the entire text to back up anything he says. Some pages have footnotes that expand on some items in the text, but these are not cited either. A few pages in the back contains a brief summary of his sources, but no citations to prove those authors agreed with him.
4.0 out of 5 stars
intriguess in the top high brass,
By A Customer
This review is from: Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the Present (Hardcover)
failures considered fatal actions of the cia through civil war and the last two world wars; very interesting book for the new generations of army officers.
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