Emerson, Steven. Secret
Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era. New
York: Putnam's, 1988.
For Valcourt, IJI&C 2.3, the "book's promise and actual content do not match up adequately.... While purportedly telling about covert operations, the book instead details much of the corruption that has plagued the special forces.... Intelligence Support Activity (ISA) ... was, and still is, one of the Pentagon's most highly classified organizations."
To Lowenthal, the book is "[u]seful in highlighting the difficulties inherent in command and control of such operations, but weaker in assessing their propriety and utility."
Bar-Joseph, I&NS 4.3, finds that Emerson's description of the activities of the Army's Special Operations Division since its establishment in 1981 "is rich in detail." While his account "is fluent and colorful," the author seems to take his sources -- many of them the "secret warriors" themselves -- "at face value, giving them more credit than they deserve and foregoing even the simplest criticism of small operational details which contradict common sense."
Eshel, David. Daring
to Win: Special Forces at War. London: Arms and Armour, 1992. [Gibish]
Faint, Donald R. [COL/USA],
and Robert M. Gearhart [CAPT/USA]. "Special Operations Intelligence:
Meeting 21st Century Challenges." American Intelligence Journal
17, no. 3/4 (1997): 23-26.
"SOF missions are growing in number and complexity, which increases the need for detailed, timely SOF intelligence support."
Fall, Bernard B. "The
Theory and Practice of Insurgency and Counterinsurgency." Naval
War College Review, Winter 1998, 46-57.
Reprinted from April 1965.
Fane, Francis Douglas
[CDR/USNR (Ret.], and Don Moore. The Naked Warriors: The Story of the
U.S. Navy's Frogmen. Rev. ed. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1995.
From advertisement: "Fane, commander of Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) One for 13 years, is credited with contributing more to the development of UDT operations and civilian SCUBA than anyone in the United States. In this long-awaited update of his classic blow-by-blow account of UDT operations in World War II and Korea he offers first-hand information and photographs never before available as well as a new chapter that continues the UDT story after the original book's 1956 publication."
Galula, David. Counter-insurgency Warfare. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1964. Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. St. Petersburg, FL: Hailer, 2005. [pb]
From advertisement: The author served as a French military officer and attache in China, Greece, Southeast Asia, and Algeria. In this work, he seeks to "define the laws of counterinsurgency warfare, to deduce from them its principles, and to outline the corresponding strategy and tactics."
Garner,
Joe R., with Avrum M. Fine. Code Name: Copperhead; My True-Life Exploits
as a Special Forces Soldier. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
According to McCombie, Parameters, Autumn 1995, the author, a former sergeant major, gives "a view from ground level" of the "modern Special Forces soldier.... He depicts well the individualism of the early Special Forces era and the willingness of SF soldiers to attempt and usually accomplish arduous, sometimes near-impossible missions." The reviewer concludes that "[t]his book of personal high adventure rings true."
Goodman, Glenn W., Jr. "Warrior-Diplomats -- Not Political Warriors: Sound Guidelines for Employing U.S. Special Operations Forces." Armed Forces Journal
International 132 (Feb. 1995): 42.
Gray, Colin S. "Handfuls of Heroes on Desperate Ventures: When do Special
Operations Succeed?" Parameters, Spring 1999, 2-24.
The author discusses several categories of conditions for success of Special Operations Forces (SOF): Policy demand, enemy vulnerabilities, politics, technological assistance, feasible objectives, tactical competence, strategy, reputation, flexibility of mind, history, and absence of alternatives.
Griswold, Terry, and D. M. Giangreco. Delta: America's Elite Counterterrorist Force. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks, 1992. Expanded ed. Osceola, WI: Zenith, 2005.
Haas, Michael E. [COL/USAF
(Ret.)]. Apollo's Warriors: U.S. Air Force Special Operations During
the Cold War. Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1997. [GPO Stock # 008-070-00726-6 (GPO tel. 202-512-1800)]
Crear, AIJ 18.1&2, notes that this account of the activities of Air Commando and Air Special Operations Squadrons "is well organized by time and place.... It is well written and generously illustrated."
Seamon, Proceedings, Sep. 1998, finds that the illustrations go beyond the merely decorative and "add immeasurably to almost every anecdote." He believes that the author has told the story of the Air Force Special Operations Force "with a novelist's art and the authority of a trained historian."
Harper's Magazine.
Panel. "Should the U.S. Fight Secret Wars?" 42 (Sep. 1984): 33-47.
Petersen: "Panel: Daniel Moynihan, William Colby, Ralph McGehee, John Stockwell, Angelo Codevilla, George Ball, Morton Halperin, Leslie Gelb, Ray Cline."
Hayden, H.T. Shadow
War: Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. Vista, CA: Pacific
Aero Press, 1992. [Gibish]
Hogan, David W., Jr.
Raiders or Elite Infantry? The Changing Role of the U.S. Army Rangers
from Dieppe to Grenada. Contributions in Military Studies, No. 128.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. [Gibish]
Forward to Special Operations
J-M
Return to Special Operations
Table of Contents