The Lighter Side

Holiday Reading List

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Red-Christmas-Tree-made-froDear CIMSEC Readers,

It’s Christmas, and the time of gifting is here.  Although we try to provide our readers with the best naval and maritime security articles, we are also providing a Holiday Reading list put together by various CIMSEC members.  Great ways to use your Amazon and Barnes & Noble gift cards. Additions to this list are welcome via the comments section:

Annie George
The Cleanest Race:  How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters
–By B.R. Meyers
A psychological look into the why and the what of North Korea.  Gets past the propaganda machine – a great read for folks interested in navigating the “but why?” of DPRK regime decisions.
Les Miserables
–By Victor Hugo
I’m a lit major by heart, and I believe that every once in a while, reading should be a labored endeavor.  Hence Les Beautiful read.
Thank You For Your Service
–By David Finkel
Going past the horrors of war, he delves into the horrors of the post-war reduction to “normality.”  I’m not finished with this one yet.

Bret Perry
Brave New War:  The Next Stage of Terrorism and End of Globalization
–By John Robb
Although I may have picked up this one a little late, John Robb forces the read to think about conflict differently.
Four Ball, One Tracer:  Commanding Executive Outcomes in Angola and Sierra Leone
–By Roelf van Heerden and Andrew Hudson
A recap of Executive Outcome’s operations from a tactical perspective shedding light on the mentality of those training the Puntland Maritime Police Force.
The New Machiavelli:  How to Wield Power in the Modern World
–By Jonathan Powell
Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff (who is a Machiavelli scholar) explores this philosopher’s misinterpreted concepts and demonstrates their applicability in today’s world with his experiences.

Dan De Wit
The Terrorist’s Dilemma:  Managing Violent Covert Organizations
–By Jacob N. Shapiro

Drew Perciballi
The Battle for the Falklands
–By Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
Victory at Sea:  World War II in the Pacific
–By James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi

Lucas Schleusener
Pakistan:  A Hard Country
–By Anatol Lieven
21st Century Mahan:  Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era
–By Benjamin Armstrong

Matt Hipple
Spymaster:  My Thirty-two Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West
–Oleg Kalugin
We rarely see intelligence operations from the other side, especially in such fine and personal detail. Oleg Kalugin’s book is not only the story of the KGB, but a stalwart Soviet slowly realizing how flawed the communist system truly was.
Brown Water, Black Berets:  Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam
–By Thomas J. Cutler
Three years ago, I found this to be a formative book. In a world where excel sheets can cause people around you to panic, reading about the leadership, dander, heroism, and suffering of real sailors at war put life into perspective.
Great Naval Blunders
–By Geoffrey Regan
A collection of humorous and horrible anecdotes about the absolute worst ideas and executions in naval history.

Michael Junge
Second-Party Counterinsurgency
–By Mark O’Neill

Miha Hribernik
The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire
–By Edward N. Luttwak

Scott Cheney-Peters
War and Peace
–By Leo Tolstoy
I’m halfway through War and Peace by Tolstoy-not because I’m pretentious, but because I am a slow reader.  The great Pevear and Volokhonsky translation makes fresh the insights on the nature of human relationships and war.
Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation
–By Joseph S. Wholey, Harry P. Hatry, and Kathryn E. Newcomer
So that I have some idea what I’m doing as CIMSEC’s Director and your elected VP.

I am also looking forward to some sci-fi, The Economist, and CNA/CMSI pleasure reading. I will not be reading the nutrition labels of everything I eat over the holidays.

Sebastian Bruns
Navies and Foreign Policy
–By Ken Booth
The point of departure for anyone who wants to understand the use (and limitations) for navies in foreign affairs of any state.
Seapower:  A Guide for the Twenty-First Century
–By Geoffrey Till
The masterwork textbook on seapower and what it can do in this century.
Maritime Sicherheit –By Sebastian Bruns, Kerstin Petretto, and David Petrovic

William Yale:
Forgotten Ally:  China’s World War II:  1937-1945
–By Rana Mitter
Shanghai 1937:  Stalingrad on the Yangtze
–By Peter Harmsen
Eisenhower:  In War and Peace
–By Jean Edward Smith

 

 

Events

DC Chapter’s Jan Meet-Up

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Don't look for us among these tables, the waitstaff is sure to shunt us off towards a bar...
Don’t look for us among these tables, the waitstaff is sure to shunt us off towards a bar…

Join our DC Chapter for our January DC-area informal meet-up/happy hour.  The crowd will be heading to the upstairs bar, if it’s open, of the District Chophouse at the Gallery Place/Chinatown metro stop (otherwise we’ll be at the main-floor bar).  We hope you’ll join us to meet some interesting people, discuss all things maritime, and chat about the-by-then on-going International Maritime Satire Week II.

Time:   Wednesday, 22 Jan 5:30-9pm                                  Happy hour lasts til 7:00pm

Place:   District Chophouse

509 7th St NW, Washington, DC
Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro (Red/Green/Yellow lines)

All are welcome – RSVPs not required, but appreciated: director@cimsec.org

Africa, Podcast

Sea Control 14 – My Other CAR is a Mali

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seacontrolemblemMatt Hipple is joined by Zack Elkaim and James Bridger to talk about rebellions in Africa: the Central African Republic, Mali, and Nigeria, as well as the future prospects for Somalia. Today’s podcast is one of our best, and we highly encourage you to give it a listen.  Enjoy our latest podcast, Episode 14, My Other CAR is a Mali (download).

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Stream Radio! Leave us a rating and a comment!

New Initiatives, Seamanship and Leadership

Rejoinder to “Ears Open, Mouth Shut”

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CRICJon’s recent blog seriously, and rightfully questions the semantics of innovation.   He obviously has spent a good deal of time thinking about what the Navy is trying to do well beyond what is merely signified by the word ‘innovation.’  

 
Buzzwords have plagued the Navy, every organization, and even society for probably as long as language has existed.  It’s easy to throw out a single word or phrase that summarizes a vast concept such as ‘innovation’ does–certainly there are wealthy authors who’ve made their living doing just that.  As, I am fairly certain that a significant portion of the issue we grapple with today is the language that is regularly found concerning this subject, I will refrain from using the word ‘innovation’ henceforth, neither any other overly used catch phrase to denote what the the current generations of the Navy have embarked upon in the last few years.  
 
Historically, the CRIC and CRIC[x] aren’t radically different from what has ever been done. Sailors tend to not give enough credit to the methods the Navy has utilized time and time again to improve its war fighting abilities.  As long ago as 1833, these words were spoken: 

 

We, the Officers of the Navy and Marine Corps, in order to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge,- to foster a spirit of harmony and a community of interest in the service, and to cement the links which unite us as professional brethren, have formed ourselves into a Society, to be denominated “The United States Naval Lyceum.”

 
An ad hoc organization, not too dissimilar to what’s being done with CIMSEC today, of interested and like-minded maritime professionals compelled to advance professional knowledge and competence.  Indeed, the Lyceum is the predecessor to the United States Naval Institute.  
 
Perhaps it’s that the human condition is predicated upon being ashore, that causes Sailors to almost innately seek out the otherwise alien knowledge of how to live, flight, and secure victory at sea.   Anything being done by those wearing the uniform today is only derivative of what has been done before us.  Each generation of sailor merely has a unique combination of geopolitical realities, emerging technologies, social temperament to hash through in finding a way forward for their Navy.  
 
Our deckplates have been a consistent hub of building upon professional knowledge, the doings of Sims in developing a better way to shoot.  With Nimitz and company in developing underway replenishment, Moffett and Curtis developing naval aviation.  TheTurtle, the Hunley, the unique build of the original Six Frigates.  How the United States Navy has done business has been anything but business as usual, as defined by other maritime powers.  We are not unique, today is not different from yesterday.  It’s probably a safe assumption that Sims would chuckle to himself were he privy to today’s Navy, as it would be familiar to him. 
 
What the Navy is today, is a mere continuation of what Sailors have always been.  The internet, and this vaunted information age has not changed the substance of the Navy or its Sailors.  Rather, what has changed – what is unique in our ‘realities, technologies, and temperament’ – is how we communicate the ideas sailors pursue in bettering and distinguishing the Navy from other maritime powers.  Quite simply, communication is the genesis of substance.  One person, one ship, one command with a better way of doing something isn’t of much use to the Navy–one person, or one ship will not win a war.  In other words, being “selfish” is only the first step. While surely the first step is where bettering our services begins, enabling others to follow that lead is vital.  Indeed, that was the entire reason for being with the Naval Lyceum, as it is the purpose for the Lyceum’s progeny The US Naval Institute, as it is also the purpose with the CNO’s Innovation Cell ‘to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge’ to the wider Fleet.  
 
More over, communication isn’t done with by shutting one’s mouth.  Communication is an exchange, a conversation. Both one’s mouth and ears must be open in order to communicate.   Despite the promises of the internet to rapidly change the world, cultures still change at a generational pace.  The senior levels of the Navy telling its sailors that change is beneficial and wanted, is a previous generation enabling the subsequent generation of leaders to adopt a methodology they, so late in their careers, can only slightly grasp at.  What is being promulgated by the Navy in their campaign is only something we’ve always in significant ways done.  It has never had to be forced, nor is it being forced now.  
 
Rather, the opportunity to act upon a good idea is being expanded.  The road blocks to communicate up the chain of command and across the Navy are being removed.  Starting with Sims having to personally write Roosevelt. We now approach a reality where mid-level support for maturing an idea is provided, ensuring critical thinking, and that something from the mouth of a petty officer sounds useful to an admiral’s ears.  
 
What is certainly not being forced is how the CRIC is going about its business, or even what its business will become.  Each member has their own discreet project that is decided upon by the CRIC member alone.  The method utilized in pursuing that project is mentored and advice is offered, but all leg work is done by the member their self.  What’s more is that any money for that project is found by the member promoting their project to entities that may want to literally buy-in to their proposal.  
 
For the CRIC, the goals are actually rather modest.  In terms of 3D printing, there is little hyperbole in simply seeking to work through such mundane notions of how divisions aboard ship could share a single 3D printer, or how shore infrastructure must support a unique capability like 3D printing.  Such an effort is building a little, and testing a lot; with hopefully placing the Navy at the ready for when 3D printing truly matures.  
 
The CRIC is not an end in and of itself.  Indeed, regional and local meet-ups sponsored CIMSEC and conferences like West are crucial to the success of the CRIC, and on a more granular level to every Sailor which wishes to help improve their Navy.  The hope for the maturation of CRIC and CRIC[x] is a construct through which ideas can move and find the right Sailor, in the right place, at the right time so that they, and the Navy can do the best with ‘what they have, where they are.’  

Fostering the Discussion on Securing the Seas.