Customer Reviews

Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the Present

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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.

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.

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.

After reading Lanning's book, one is left with the impression that America's MI community is comprised of total incompetents. Not only is this not true, but Lanning's book begs the question "If these are all the failures, where are all the successes?" The answers to this question would fill innumerable volumes (Saratoga, Antietam, et al.). Lanning needs to find a new day job and perhaps look beyond his own narrow field of experiences with the MI community.

Lanning jumps on his petty position that military intelligence is to blame for all the military's shortcomings and never lets go. His arguments are shallow and unfounded. He then goes on to make some of the worst suggestions ever proposed, especially by by a military veteran--reduce our armed services to only an army and navy, shut down all but one of the service academies (he must be disappointed he couldn't get accepted to West Point)--what exactly do these issues have to do with the intelligence community? I just find it very interesting that someone who has never served as a military intelligence officer thinks he is a credible source on the subject. I guess he spent a little too much time in the infantry and lost his common sense.

The author started with a premise that intelligence in the US Military has never worked. The remainder of book utilizes any type of information even slightly related to intelligence to support the premise. In many of his examples, he liberaly extrapolates to make his point that intelligence has been the reason behind every military failure in the history of the military. His reasonings are only one level deep, and do not go into the complex arena of analysis, and the attitudes or military thought (to include national) of the times. To adequately address this issue, he needed to go several levels deeper than his very superfluos examples address. Some of his examples detail what happened in the specific military failure, and then he ends the thought by stating that military intelligence caused the failure without giving the appropriate analysis for his conclusion. Would only recomend this book for people who have an ax to grind with the military. No substance or analytical thought found anyplace in this book....

Lanning is a hero as a soldier and a writer. His review of the entire history of US Intelligence efforts makes it clear that deceiving ourselves and sending young men into harm's way without adequate information is standard operating procedure. This is a terrific book; a smooth and satisfying read; and should be required reading for all citizens. A book with the heart and soul of an experienced soldier. One can only hope that lawmakers and professional soldiers will read this book. God help us if we continue to repeat our past

LTC Lanning is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man below says, 'Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees North latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees West longitude.'

'You must be an intelligence analyst,' says LTC Lanning.

'I am,' replies the analyst. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' says the balloonist, 'everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost.'

The man below says, 'You must be a policymaker'

'I am,' replies Lanning, 'but how did you know?'

'Well,' says the man, 'you don't know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault.'

We must all remember that nearly every military succes or failure is easly explainable in retrospect. Inteligence is among the most vulnerable department when it comes to analysis such as this. It is always possible to critisize the quality and quantity of information available when , after the fact, many more things come to light. This is not a strike against the author, it is a reminder to us all to be rational and to delicatly determine the circumstances surrounding us.