Customer Reviews

They Just Don't Get It: How Washington Is Still Compromising Your Safety--and What You Can Do About It

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As an American I find it hard to take that after the events of 9-11-01 we as a country have slipped back into complacency. But what also surprises me is that no one in the government quite seems to understand that the rules of the big game have changed.
It is about time a book like this has come along. David Hunt is stark and no nonsense in his presentation of the dangers America is now facing. His presentation is frank not hysterical and comes complete with numerous documents published for the first time to back up his contentions.
Hunt himself has the credentials to speak to these issues and is no lightweight. A senior research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard he is recognized expert in the field of terrorism as well as being a military veteran of many years.
Be you a hawk a dove or somewhere in the middle this portion of the book alone makes the book a must read for everyone today.
But I will go further to say that although Col. Hunt is hawkish (a better word for the times in which we live might be pragmatic) I think all of the main ideas he presents here, our complacency, the weakness of our leaders, our willingness to please the rest of the world to the point of our own determent (in a world where the consequences could be unimaginable) and having bureaucracy in this country that borders on the Byzantine are all problems every reader, be they hawk or dove, should consider.
Col. Hunt not only points out the mistakes we are making in the war on terror and our foreign policy but has some solutions. And in that way this is not really a "gloom and doom" book but something which is hopeful. Further he offers practical advice on how to protect one's own family. Whether you agree with his solutions or not this is a book that must be examined and discussed.

Jim Connell

This book is an outstanding, albeit terrifying look into the war on terror and our will/ability to win it. Col. Hunt argues that three major inhibiters--apathy, bureaucracy, and a lack of political will stand in our way. A quick synopsis:

Apathy amongst the media, politicians, and the electorate is very dangerous because the bad guys are still out there and still trying their level best to do us in. Regardless, in the four years since 9/11 apathy has taken hold nearly everywhere. Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan just don't seem real; terrorist actions in foreign countries (e.g., Bali nightclub bombing, Spanish train bombing) don't feel like a clear and present danger here.

Bureaucracy and status quo mentality have combined with this lack of urgency to stall essential change. For example, the Director of National Intelligence has neither the budgetary control nor the hire/fire authority to really control the various agencies that report to him. Intelligence officials spend too much time in congressional committees and not enough finding and fighting our enemies. The White House staff numbers in the thousands today while back in the Kennedy Administration it was less than a hundred...

Political will not only addresses the ability to make needed change but also the willingness to take action at all. For example, even though the pre-Iraq war WMD intelligence was totally inaccurate, no one was fired and essential organizational/cultural change has still not been made. The FBI's $100M computing sinkhole not only led to no working system but also no firings for those whose job it was to implement the project. And, we are, in Hunt's words, "still sleeping with the enemy." We have friendly relations with the Russians while they sell weapons to terrorists and unfriendly countries. We support Saudi Arabia even though their terrorist crackdowns are mostly just for show and they continue to fund extremist religious schools and institutions.

The first part of the book is designed to scare us into action. Not only does he point out the many problems, however, but he also offers a solution. This would include markedly expanding the military, untying the hands of our special forces, massively reducing the power of congressional committees, gutting the entrenched bureaucracy, and making select changes to the law, among other things. I somehow doubt any of these changes can take place unless, god forbid, there is another large scale terrorist attack on US soil, but I found the book illuminating nevertheless. You can certainly see Col. Hunt's military background and perspective shine through.

The book is hard-hitting and very frank. Treated as an academic study it is comprehensive, well researched, interesting, and pretty well written. And, it forms the basis of a plan of action should our elected officials wish to step up the war on terror to the next level. If you want the inside scoop on the war on terror, you gotta read this book.

Sure, Col Hunt's book is written in salty, colorful language and is seemingly facile in its approach and solutions. But allow me to tell you something - - I worked directly and closely under Col Hunt during an intense 6-month deployment, overseas, away from home, during the mid-90s. I am female. I served as an Air Force pilot; he was in the Army. He is the FINEST OFFICER I EVER worked for! No exception. As someone who retired after 20 years in the male-dominated field of piloting jets, I can also honestly say he was/is the most pro-female-supportive guy I've known. Just ask him sometime about the Air Force Academy sex scandals or Tailhook. There again, he'll tell you, 'They just don't get it.' Why do I say all this? Because Col Hunt possesses the most credibility of anyone I know. He writes just as he thinks and speaks - - lasering in on the TRUTH. When he directs an operation, he gets down to brass tacks, ferrets out the truth, lets people "operate", and gets the job DONE! He is the REAL DEAL. Whatever he says; you can take it to the bank, because it is spot-on-target. His book is a CLARION CALL. Do I think the call will be heeded? Unfortunately not. But maybe some of the book's nuggets will resonate at high enough levels, so that some of the bumbling and political interference can be stopped. I likewise worked under Gen Jones and Adm Smith. They knew enough to closely heed his counsel. I sure hope President George W. Bush does.

September 2, 2005: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the utter devastation it caused, I am saddened by the horrible response by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security on the evacuation of citizens from New Orleans. Seeing events unfold on TV, I found David Hunt's sharp criticism of these two agencies in this book. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Ret. Col. David Hunt:

"With Homeland Security, the US government consolidated such organizations as Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Mangement Agency(FEMA), the Coast Guard, and the Transportation Safety Administration(TSA)into one giant bureaucratic leviathan....Homeland Security is supposed to protect us. Well, it ain't doin' its job! What it has done, however, is make agencies like the TSA and the Secret Service less effective....FEMA used to be a nut-crunching, get-it-done- now agency. It became that way after it was restructured and given serious power in the wake of a class-five hurricane named Andrew that devastated Florida in 1992. The federal government looked inept in its ineffective response to the hurricane, since ultimately the Army had to go in to help. Recovering from that embarassment, FEMA became a shining example of how an ineffective agency can refocus its task and become very good at what it does. It became one of the bright lights of our government.

Well, never let it be said that your government can't screw up a good thing. After FEMA was thrown into the Department of Homeland Security, a test came for the new organizational structure in the form of a class-five hurricane named Charley, which also blew through Florida and left behind a wasteland. The pre-9/11 FEMA would have been all over Charley, but instead we were witness to frustrated families without power, and great young National Guard kids saving the day-again. Hey folks, if you can't beat a hurricane, GOOD LUCK WITH THE TERRORISTS." [emphasis added my own]

Col. Hunt folks. Please read this book. After watching with what's going on in New Orleans and the calling of heads to roll in the gov't for their lax response to this crisis, Hunt saw this coming and thanks to him, so did I.

I can't say this enough: THANK YOU COL. HUNT FOR THIS BOOK! If you do read this review, please follow-up with a sequel with this book, for sadly our politicians will never seem to get "it" until it's too late.

My review is below:


Retired Col. David Hunt is disgusted. Why is he disgusted? Because our government, which is run by a bunch of spineless politicians, has let terrorism run wild on US citizens across the globe, coming to a zenith with September 11, 2001. From the 1970s to the present, no politician doesn't want to seem to actually kill the very terrorists who want America wiped off the planet for good. Thank God that these same politicians weren't around during WWII- we'll all be saluting Hitler's grandson as the ruler of the world....

Col. Hunt's book is a jolting reminder and an eye-opener as to what America actually needs to do to win the war on terrorism. But when you actually read the first 2 chapters of this book as to what America has actually done to punish terrorists and the countries that supports them, you will vomit (plus pop a few cranial vessels as well). To sum it all up, we have done nothing.

When the American gov't screams to the public via the media that countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan and other whackjob countries, are our allies on this war, the average American's mind must feel like it has been plugged into the matrix. These same countries are the ones funding the terrorists that want to destroy America. Can you say "UH DUH!" David Hunt, with his no nonsense wit and his overwhelming frustration with "red tape", lays it all down: how did America get up to 9/11/01? Who wants us dead? (Saudis, Pakistan,Palestinians,Syria,Iran, N. Korea, Russian mafia, etc.)Who should we really befriend no matter what? (INDIA, ISRAEL, ET AL.)What should we do? (Reform the intelligence agencies and have 1 guy be the boss of one major intelligence agency [CIA]instead of having 90 bosses do the same thing, which is nothing, actually kill the terrorists[ what a radical idea!],you know the really simple stuff with no political BS.) Hunt also makes a really good suggestion on 1 major thing the average American can do to help with this war: READ FOR GOD'S SAKE! Read newspapers, web pages whatever to get the bigger global picture. Find out with what's going on around the world......

America could win the war on terrorism, which Hunt describes as a "holy war" (the terrorists scream this all the time, why doesn't anyone want to seem to listen to them). The gov't just has to take it seriously, or else we could see an attack that makes 9/11 look like a walk in the park.

Thanks Col. Hunt for your book!

In my youth, I trained anti=terrorist forces in close-quarter combat. I lived in Argentina then and they were waging a war against armed terrorists. They wiped them out. Sure some right were trampled on, but the majority was saved from ruthless thugs. They made hard decisions that needed to be made. They had the balls to do so.

Colonel Hunt knows what it takes and he's sharing it for all to learn as well. This book should be mandatory reading for EVERYONE in government and for all Americans too. We can't continue to live in LALA lnad forever...

There is only one thing a terrorist understands and that is death. If you don't kill them they consider you weak and will exploit that weakness in every way they can. Terrorists are cowards, not freedomfighters or any other euphemistic term. Colonel Hunt is right on with this. Presidnt Bush should read this 20 times and then re-read it to make sure he understands it before making anymore stupid decisions. Our military leaders should also read this and do what they're paid to do correctly..

Hunt is right, our future depends on it...

This is a book one can't put down. Col. David Hunt should be running the war! He is accurate in his analysis, and everyone at the Pentagon, including those politically correct politicians should be ashamed of themselves for putting America at Risk and listen to someone who knows how to fight a war and get us out of there with honor.

Colonel David Hunt in THEY JUST DON'T GET IT warns the reader that not only is this country in danger from terrorists but he fears that this danger is more likely to grow than to shrink. The United States is surrounded by those who wish us harm in ways that range from the nuclear to the biological. Hunt notes that this danger is exacerbated by those whose very job it is to protect us. To his credit, Hunt does not only blame the Left. The current administration must shoulder, in its inability to close our borders, its own fair share of the blame. Still, Hunt saves most of his verbal bullets for those who seek to place partisan politics over national security.

Hunt starts off by identifying those who wish America harm: the Saudis, the Russian mafia, Syria, North Korea, Iran, Al Qaeda. Hunt tends to lump these threats into two camps: the non-Islamics (Russia and North Korea) and Islamofascists (the majority of the Arab world). He notes the tendency of the left to have a politically correct view concerning our enemies. To avoid offending the Moslem world is more important, in the eyes of the PC crowd, than to face the stark truth that "we are fighting a religious war, and knowing it is the first step in winning it." (page 59) Playing the geopolitical ostrich is, he warns, a sure way to be devoured by an onrushing Moslem lion that sees the United States as morally unwilling to do what must be done to remain alive.

Hunt has many suggestions that he says are long overdue. Our various intelligence services all too often function at cross purposes so that one does not know what the other does. The solution, he suggests is to "put one person in charge--really in charge" (page 74) of all such agencies. He sees our military in the same sad state as our intelligence services. The real villain here is the huge bureaucracy that creates a lack of accountability. Cut it, he urges, down to a more manageable size. In his chapter "What Can We Do?" he lists commonsense tasks that ought to be done by all Americans: Face the facts; we have to kill the bad guys in unPC ways; we must be better informed by accessing news sources that exclude the gloom and doom rhetoric of the New York Times; and finally he urges all Americans to shout out "we are angry as hell and won't take it any more."

It is not likely that "they" are ever going to "get" it. Hunt understands that "we" are going to have to do just that if this country wants to avoid further repetitions of Pearl Harbor like attacks that surely the Left would blame on Bush.

No ghost writer here. Just a man expert in war telling the truth in his own authentic language. After the cloud(s) clear over the one or more US cities that experience the impact of a small, portable nuclear weapon in a few years, months, or hours, the few folks who happen on Hunt's book will say, "Wow, was he right, or what!" [For a peek into the mindset that discounts Hunt (and will, on that day, be rendered snibblingly incoherent) see the April 22 1 Star review and then its other reviews for a context. Hi ho.]

For anyone who ever came operationally in contact with the CIA in a war zone, his assertion of their general incompetence, coupled with the Beltway disease is a gimme. Not likely to change. Cause not enough of us died on 9/11 to get the "it" of his title. More to come, then maybe.

The essence of Col Hunt's book is a wakeup call to the United States and to the world. He lays out an abbreviated history of terrorism related to the U.S.A., who the terrorists are, why they are a threat, and what should be done. While the starkness of his message may be hard to swallow for some, it is an easy read and it deserves more attention than it is getting. Regardless of one's political point of view, this is a must read.

Col. David Hunt has really hit the nail on the head with this one! This is a very insightful book , written by someone who actually has a clue about how we should handle our national security and safety.