Michael G. Vickers's Books

By All Means Available

Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy

By: Michael G. Vickers

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By All Means Available

Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy

By: Michael G. Vickers

A vivid insider's account of a life in intelligence, special operations, and strategy from the Cold War to the war with al-Qa’ida • "[An] illuminating and richly detailed memoir." —The New York Times Book Review "Deeply insightful...A sweeping and breathtaking journey that gives the reader unprecedented access to the courage, sacrifice, and bravado of our nation’s finest warriors, in their finest hours." —Admiral William H. McRaven, author of Wisdom of the Bullfrog and #1 New York Times bestseller, Make Your Bed In 1984, Michael Vickers took charge of the CIA’s secret war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. After inheriting a strategy aimed at imposing costs on the Soviets for their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, Vickers transformed the covert campaign into an all-out effort to help the Afghan resistance win their war. More than any other American, he was responsible for the outcome in Afghanistan that led to the end of the Cold War. In By All Means Available, Vickers recounts his remarkable career, from his days as a Green Beret to his vision for victory in Afghanistan to his role in waging America’s war with al-Qa’ida at the highest levels of government. In captivating detail, he depicts his years in the Special Forces—including his training to parachute behind enemy lines with a backpack nuclear weapon in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe—and reveals how those experiences directly influenced his approach to shaping policy. Vickers has played a significant role in most of the military and intelligence operations of the past four decades, and he offers a deeply informed analysis of the greatest challenges facing America today, and in the decades ahead. Riveting and illuminating, this is a rare and important insider’s account of the modern military and intelligence worlds at every level.

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Page Count

585

Publisher

Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101947713

ISBN 13

9781101947715

Technological Change and the Future of Warfare

By: Michael E. O'Hanlon

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Technological Change and the Future of Warfare

By: Michael E. O'Hanlon

In light of the spectacular performance of American high-technology weapons in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, as well as the phenomenal pace of innovation in the modern computer industry, many defense analysts have posited that we are on the threshold of a revolution in military affairs (RMA). The issue has more than semantic importance. Many RMA proponents have begun to argue for major changes in Pentagon budgetary priorities and even in American foreign policy more generally to free up resources to pursue a transformed U.S. military—and to make sure that other countries do not take advantage of the purported RMA before we do. This book takes a more measured perspective. Beginning with a survey of various types of defense technologies, it argues that while important developments are indeed under way, most impressively in electronics and computer systems, the overall thrust of contemporary military innovation is probably not of a revolutionary magnitude. Some reorientation of U.S. defense dollars is appropriate, largely to improve homeland defense and to take advantage of the promise of modern electronics systems and precision-guided munitions. But radical shifts in U.S. security policy and Pentagon budget priorities appear unwarranted—especially if those shifts would come at the expense of American military engagement in overseas defense missions from Korea to Iraq to Bosnia.

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Page Count

236

Publisher

Brookings Institution Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815798946

ISBN 13

9780815798941

The Transformation of the World of War and Peace Support Operations

By: Kobi Michael,David Kellen,Eyal Ben-Ari

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The Transformation of the World of War and Peace Support Operations

By: Kobi Michael,David Kellen,Eyal Ben-Ari

With the end of the Cold War, the euphoria of the Gulf War of the 1990s and the avowal of a New World Order, peace-operations were declared as the recipe for a better world through international intervention in conflict arenas. However, the debacles and failures in Cambodia, Somalia, or the Balkans led to disillusionment and a sense of strategic helplessness among leaders, experts and scholars in the industrial democracies. While these arguments have been the focus of intense criticism and discussion, they nevertheless underscore the fact that since the end of the Cold War the armed forces of the industrial democracies have undergone very significant transformations. This is the first work linking the changes in armed forces to Peace Support Operations (PSOs), those operations with major state-building components that demand broad and coherent cooperation between military forces and civilian entities. The Transformation of the World of War and Peace Support Operations is timely as the recent debates over PSOs continue to take center stage. This work embodies a new set of ideas and concepts that aid in grasping and interpreting the transformations taking place in the world of war and in PSOs. It seeks to understand how social, economic, political, and organizational transformations around the globe are related to the complex links between armed forces and PSOs. Additionally, this work addresses issues that continue to define the character and makeup of modern warfare and the missions of PSOs for coming decades.

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Page Count

233

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313365024

ISBN 13

9780313365027

Killer Elite

The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team

By: Michael Smith

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Killer Elite

The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team

By: Michael Smith

A British journalist specializing in defense topics offers a readable, useful addition to the literature on American special operations forces.

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Page Count

388

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312378262

ISBN 13

9780312378264

Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning

By: Bruce Hutchinson,Michael Batty

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Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning

By: Bruce Hutchinson,Michael Batty

In September 1980, the Special Programme Panel on Systems Sciences of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored an Advanced Research Institute (ARI) on "Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning" which was held at New College, Univer sity of Oxford, from 21st to 27th September. This week-long meeting brought together 35 invited delegates from most countries of the NATO Alliance to discuss the impact which syst~ms analysis has had and is likely to have on urban affairs. The manuscript was submitted to the publisher in June of 1982. Although the goal of the ARI was to assess the impact of urban systems analysis as seen through the eyes of those closely involved in such work, the meeting also addressed opportunities for future research and development, and therefore in this book we have attempted to synthesize discussions at the meeting with this in mind. But before we describe the structure of this book, it is worth recounting in a little more detail the intentions and organi zation of the meeting, for this has had an important effect on the type of papers produced here, the way they have been written, and the issues they address.

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Page Count

605

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461335604

ISBN 13

9781461335603

The Science of War

Defense Budgeting, Military Technology, Logistics, and Combat Outcomes

By: Michael E. O'Hanlon

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The Science of War

Defense Budgeting, Military Technology, Logistics, and Combat Outcomes

By: Michael E. O'Hanlon

An essential introduction to modern defense policy The U.S. military is one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world. How it spends its money, chooses tactics, and allocates its resources have enormous implications for national defense and the economy. The Science of War is the only comprehensive textbook on how to analyze and understand these and other essential problems in modern defense policy. Michael O'Hanlon provides undergraduate and graduate students with an accessible yet rigorous introduction to the subject. Drawing on a broad range of sources and his own considerable expertise as a defense analyst and teacher, he describes the analytic techniques the military uses in every crucial area of military science. O'Hanlon explains how the military budget works, how the military assesses and deploys new technology, develops strategy and fights wars, handles the logistics of stationing and moving troops and equipment around the world, and models and evaluates battlefield outcomes. His modeling techniques have been tested in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the methods he used to predict higher-than-anticipated troop fatalities in Iraq—controversial predictions that have since been vindicated. The Science of War is the definitive resource on warfare in the twenty-first century. Gives the best introduction to defense analysis available Covers defense budgeting Shows how to model and predict outcomes in war Explains military logistics, including overseas basing Examines key issues in military technology, including missile defense, space warfare, and nuclear-weapons testing Based on the author's graduate-level courses at Princeton, Columbia, and Georgetown universities

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Page Count

276

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691157995

ISBN 13

9780691157993

War and Intervention

Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations

By: Michael V. Bhatia

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War and Intervention

Issues for Contemporary Peace Operations

By: Michael V. Bhatia

* Explains developments in recent peacekeeping operations and politico-military environments * Bridges the gap between peace and conflict scholarship * Highlights new aspects of war studies Following over a decade of substantial and extensive American military involvement, peace operations have passed from a position of strategic irrelevance to one of strategic importance. War and Intervention provides a snapshot of the contemporary environment of peace operations, in terms of both war and intervention. It also answers two broad questions: 1) What are key characteristics of armed competitors in the current environment of peace operations, particularly in terms of their structure and organization, financing, access to military resources, and the tactical tools and methods applied by these movements? And 2) What are key recent developments in the dimensions and methods of intervention, particularly regarding the use of force, the adaptation of global militaries to peace operations and the emerging political, legal and economic components of intervention? War and Intervention allows readers from a range of domains--military, academic, humanitarian, political, and diplomatic--to understand the priorities and methods of different actors in today’s peace operations.

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Page Count

239

Publisher

Kumarian Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1565491645

ISBN 13

9781565491649

Book's by Michael G. Vickers

By All Means Available

By All Means Available

Technological Change and the Future of Warfare

Technological Change and the Future of Warfare

The Transformation of the World of War and Peace Support Operations

The Transformation of the World of War and Peace Support Operations

Killer Elite

Killer Elite

Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning

Systems Analysis in Urban Policy-Making and Planning

The Science of War

The Science of War

War and Intervention

War and Intervention

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