by Christian Brose The United States will lose the next large scale conflict because the most advanced systems it has will be immediately destroyed, or more likely, won’t even make it to the battlefield. China and Russia have focused their efforts on developing relatively low cost systems and networks that are exceptionally flexible, fast, dynamic … Continue reading The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare

by W. Brad Johnson and David Smith Women are currently serving in some of the highest positions within both private and public sectors, but they are still vastly outnumbered by men in senior positions.  It is therefore critical that senior male leaders proactively mentor women and recognize the subconscious biases that may prevent them from … Continue reading Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women

by David Crist The only consistency in the United States’ relationship with Iran is that our timing, actions, and message are always completely wrong. When Iran has offered diplomatic openings or opportunities to work together (after 9-11, prior to operations in Afghanistan, at the start of operations in Iraq, oil contracts with Conoco, etc.), we … Continue reading The Twilight War: The Secret History of America’s Thirty Year Conflict with Iran

by Richard P. Rumelt Serving in a Combatant Command has given me a unique opportunity to see how our military strategy is developed at the highest levels.  Rumelt’s book provides a clear and accessible methodology for developing strategy that is applicable to military strategists. Interestingly, his recommendations encompass much of what we already have in … Continue reading Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters

by LTG (R) Daniel P. Bolger LTG Bolger argues we lost in Iraq and Afghanistan because of poor strategic and operational leadership exacerbated by the failure of successive military leaders to truly understand the enemy they faced and the nature of their own forces.  It is unclear if the U.S. has the political will to … Continue reading Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

by Joshua Ramo In a revolutionary era of surprise and innovation, we need to learn and think like a revolutionary. In order to achieve “deep security”, dynamic times require us to develop a global immune system that identifies dangers, adapts to deal with them, and can control and contain the risk they present. The old models … Continue reading The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New Global Order Constantly Surprises Us and What to Do About It

by Joseph McCormack Successful people know how to relay information accurately, concisely, and make it stick. I used the BRIEF map below to summarize the book – a BRIEF map is a "sticky" way to effectively structure a written or oral briefing: provide background, explain relevance, relay key information, clearly end, and prepare for follow-up … Continue reading Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less

by Michael G. Waltz  In this book, Michael Waltz, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan as a Special Forces commander as well as the Director for Afghanistan Policy within OSD, offers a unique blend of perspectives from the extremely tactical level of an ODA taking fire on the Pakistan border to writing “night notes” for … Continue reading Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan

by CAPT (R) L. David Marquet This book lays out several techniques for developing competent, motivated, leaders at every level of an organization. CAPT Marquet effectively turned his submarine into a leadership laboratory, implementing several policies that completely contradicted long-held military leadership truisms and relying heavily on common sense and trust. The three most important … Continue reading Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

    The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth by Mark Mazzetti Lessons from a Life in the CIAs Clandestine Service by Henry Crumpton   Both authors agree on two main points: the American people should understand how the intelligence community operates and … Continue reading Two Tales of Intelligence