Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters [Hardcover]

Richard A. Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 27, 2008

Richard Clarke's statement to the 9-11 families that "Your government failed you - and I failed you" was the most dramatic moment in the 9-11 Commission hearings. His number 1 bestseller "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" explained how the US had stumbled into a struggle with violent Islamist extremists. Now in "Your Government Failed You", Clarke looks at why failures have continued and how America and the world can succeed against the terrorists.But Clarke goes beyond terrorism to examine the recurring US government disasters. Despite the lessons of Vietnam, the involvement in Iraq, a trail of intelligence failures litter the Washington landscape. From Katrina to colour codes and duct tape, homeland security has been an oxymoron. Why does the Superpower continue to hobble national security? Drawing on his thirty years in the White House, Pentagon, State Department and Intelligence Community, Clarke discovers patterns in the failure and suggests ways to stop the cycle.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard A. Clarke began his career in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 1973. He was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence in the Reagan Administration. The Senate confirmed him as Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs in the George H.W. Bush Administration. He served in the White House for both presidents Bush and for President Clinton, who appointed him as National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1 edition (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061474622
• ISBN-13: 978-0061474620
• Product Dimensions: 1.4 x 6.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I started writing books after a thirty year career in government writing bureaucratic papers. It was quite a shift. Cyber War is my fifth book and my third non-fiction. People often ask which genre do you prefer to write, fiction or non-fiction? They are both a challenge and both are exciting to attempt. Fiction may be the greater challenge, because of the need for imagination, characterization, dialogue, and plot twists. Non-fiction may actually have some real world effects. I've posted excerpts and other information on my web page; www.richardaclarke.net.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

93 of 99 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lot to Think About! May 27, 2008

By Loyd E. Eskildson HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

America's government spends $1 trillion/year on national security, yet fails to provide security for its citizens. Clarke's latest book reviews several key areas and identifies both problems and potential improvements.

The Iraq War is the first topic reviewed. Clarke believes that the war was a major mistake, is not likely to achieve its purpose, and represents a failure in leadership. Examples of the latter include having insufficient troops, a lack of direction after taking Baghdad, poorly equipped and protected forces, loose control of prisoners, and poor treatment of our wounded after arriving back in the U.S. Clarke believes U.S. generals failed to stand up to poor decision-making by civilians, though also contends that top generals were chose for their compliability and admits that speaking out was a career-limiting move.

The end of the Cold War came as a surprise to American leadership, and is widely viewed as a devastating indictment of U.S. intelligence. Other failures include the CIA telling Truman in 1950 that China would not invade Korea to fight U.S. forces (that assessment was made after advance Chinese units had already entered North Korea), the CIA asserting that Iraq would not invade Kuwait (did so within hours of that forecast), concluding that Iraq did not have significant nuclear weapons development prior to Gulf War I, stating that Russia had not violated the Biological Weapons Convention (later was proved, and they admitted otherwise), mislocating the location of Russian nuclear warheads in East Germany, concluding that Iraq had WMD prior to Gulf War II and was also training al Qaeda, downplaying the likelihood of North Korea invading the South, India's developing nuclear weapons, failing to detect both the Tet Offensive and the fall of the Shah, etc.... Hardly the expected performance for sixteen agencies with tens of thousands and $50 billion/year believed employed in intelligence activities.

Clarke is particularly upset at our failure to pursue Khalid al-Midhar (one of the 9/11 crew) in the U.S. even though he had been linked to the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in E. Africa, followed to Malaysia to a terrorist meeting in 1999 (secret photographing of his passport at the time showed he had a visa for U.S. travel, even though he had been identified as al Qaeda both by U.S. and Saudi Arabian sources, and entered the U.S. twice after that and lived in California prior to 9/11. A CIA Inspector General investigation post 9/11 concluded that 60 agents knew of al-Midhar's presence in the U.S., along with an associate.

The Afghanistan campaign is a long way from success, also due to inadequate force commitment, compounded by Frank's failure to send U.S. Rangers to cut off bin Laden's escape into Pakistan and others failing to provide enough economic aid. Clarke recommends we stop the heroin growing in Afghanistan (funds the Taliban) by paying farmers to plant something else.

As for Homeland Security, Clarke states that it presided over the most obvious domestic failure of the national government in generations, and is now laced with political hacks and private contractors. Unresolved problems to-date include fake IDs, failure to screen airplane cargo, little security effort involving trains and ships, illegal immigration, and non-functional software. Meanwhile, we have damaged our credibility and trust through torture, hyping arrests and plots, and wiretaps.

Worse yet are the related problems of oil funding terrorists and adding to global warming. Little has been done, despite the seriousness of both.

"Your Government Failed You" ends the topics examined with cybersecurity. We have problems with outsiders getting inside vital databases, overloading systems to render them inoperative, etc. Progress has been made, but it needs to become a higher priority.

Clarke's overall recommendations include reducing the size of government, and ending the privatization of vital functions, staffing them with political hacks, and rotating individuals in/out of these vital security functions. Read more ›

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Advice to Obama January 6, 2009

By Donald JG Chiarella

Format:Hardcover

New president Obama needs to read this book. After 31 years in government i finally found someone who tells it like it is. That person is Richard Clarke. He has insights that i have known for years but never been able to confirm about some political appointees and their cronies. He also knows the career civil servant well. Washington is a place full of deceit and executive criminal behavior. Reading this book is excellent perparation for that duty. If you want to know what works in national security policy and what does not then read this book. Mr Clarke's blind spot is that he was never in the military. Other than that i find him on target in every aspect of his comments.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a beach book August 8, 2008

By Kyle W. Garrett

Format:Hardcover

I bought this book on the day it came out and was hoping for another insider's account - and was slightly disappointed. Clarke has an amazing array of experience and knowledge in government and he displays both with brilliance. However, he is writing to a narrow audience, to those who understand government as well as he does (or those who want to know all the nitty gritty). He admits that he spent years writing government reports and analysis, and his writing style reveals as much. He spends far too much time giving extremely detailed prescriptions for every problem. I think this book will be greatly helpful to the next administration, and he makes a good case that he should be an important piece of the next executive branch (national security advisor?).

However for a general audience, this book is far too detailed and policy wonkish. He uses words like "interagency departmental management" as if the reader can comprehend what that means (or as if the casual reader cares). He could get his point out better if he were to dumb down his prescriptions a bit. However, if his objective was not to sell books to a wide audience and merely to government insiders, then this book is a great success.

If you're going to the beach, do not take this book - you'll either fall asleep or contemplate throwing the book into the ocean out of confusion. Don't get me wrong - this book had a lot of fascinating information, such as the detailed information on military policy and how it has evolved. Even the cybersecurity chapter had me interested. But it took lots of careful reading to understand everything he talked about. I have lots of friends who love politics, yet I cannot think of anyone I could recommend this book to - it's too policy-centered for them.... My advice - if you buy this book, skip the recommendations and just read about his experiences. For example, he discusses one instance where he meets up with a bunch of computer hackers in a warehouse for several hours discussing cybersecurity - just imagining the idea of Richard Clarke kicking back with a bunch of hackers is priceless enough. Read more ›

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Clarke again tells you things you ought to know September 6, 2008

By W. E. Cook

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Clarke has a reputation for telling things that, while not secret, are things the Bush crowd would rather you didn't know. His 30+ years in government, at a fairly high level, give him credence. Among many other things, he tells you how the Administration bullied Tommy Franks into reducing the long-standing Iraq invasion requirement from 480K to 130K, and how there was no post-invasion plan, previously a requirement of any military operation. He points out that if a Democratic Administration had sent troops into Iraq with canvas doors on their Hummers, there would have been riots in the streets. He points out the shabby treatment that Gov Ridge got and why he finally quit. And of course there is passing comments on Karl Rove, the spin-master from Hell. It made me want to deport him back there on the spot. It short, it's a good read if you want the story told from the inside....