Still Broken

If you only buy one foreign policy book this year, it should obviously be Heads in the Sand by a talented young writer with whom I'm acquainted. But if you buy a second, you could do a lot worse than A.J. Rosmiller's Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failure From Baghdad to the Pentagon. You've got some memoir, some policy analysis, and even a touch of action-adventure thrills.

It shows on both a micro and a macro level in what bad shape we are, intelligence-wise. The system doesn't work, and good intelligence product isn't getting into the right hands and being acted on in the right way. But what's more, the system's driving smart, talented, patriotic, and knowledgeable people right out of the system. AJ's writing books and blog posts (and going to law school) instead of still working in the IC in part because it's the kind of screwed-up place that's driving the best people away rather than pulling them in. So to repeat, pre-order Heads in the Sand but it won't come for a while, so while you wait pick up a copy of Still Broken (available Tuesday!) and read that.

Comments

"It shows on both a micro and a macro level in what bad shape we are, intelligence-wise. The system doesn't work, and good intelligence product isn't getting into the right hands and being acted on in the right way."

On the other hand the last NIE was 100% and anyone who disagrees with me is an idiot.

Posted by Dave | February 8, 2008 5:37 PM

"100% correct" that is. These forums need an edit feature.

Posted by Dave | February 8, 2008 5:40 PM

Alright. I'll buy, Matt. But it better be good.

Posted by LowLife | February 8, 2008 5:42 PM

If we promise to buy will Matt promise not to, er, promote his book as incessantly as Sullivan did his, with two posts a day for a year, each accompanied by a big cover shot complete with a link to an online retailer?

Posted by Warren Terra | February 8, 2008 5:50 PM

I recommend Tim Weiner's recent Legacy of Shadows, the most essential book about American intelligence ever.

Posted by Freddie | February 8, 2008 6:12 PM

I recommend Tim Weiner's recent Legacy of Ashes, the most essential book about American intelligence ever.

Posted by Freddie | February 8, 2008 6:13 PM

I recommend Tim Weiner's recent Legacy of Shadowy Ashes (and Their Legacies), the most essential book about American intelligence ever.

Seriously it takes forever for the site to reload when you post stuff but the actual comments post instantly.

Posted by Freddie | February 8, 2008 6:43 PM

There are a lot of great ideas out there in non-fiction books, whether the subject is national security, health care, or the economy. I always wondered if any of these ideas were able to filter upwards to Congress and the President. Obama argues for bottom to top change, but what I'd like to see if bottom to top filtering of ideas. People -> blogs -> books -> advisors -> Congress and the President. But does it actually happen?

Posted by Jason | February 8, 2008 6:50 PM

But, wait -- if we buy AJ's book, then won't we not only be *rewarding* him for leaving intel work, but also setting up an obvious incentive scheme for other people in the field to follow his lead? "Gosh, AJ quit, and thanks to Yglesias and his zombie-like horde of followers, he's now a millionaire! I better quit and write a book, too!"

I say, it's our patriotic duty *not* to buy the book!

Posted by The Confidence Man | February 8, 2008 7:14 PM

Why would I want your book when I have your blog, bozo?

Posted by B | February 8, 2008 7:58 PM

Re The Confidence Man's comment "I say, it's our patriotic duty *not* to buy the book!"
--------------
Valerie Plame says to buy the fucking book.

Otherwise you will wind up on the Capitol steps -- buck naked, bound, gagged, and with your hands superglued around your dick while the tourists snap pictures.

PS
She says this is the "soft" sell.

Posted by Don Williams | February 8, 2008 8:00 PM

"But what's more, the system's driving smart, talented, patriotic, and knowledgeable people right out of the system."

Without having read the book, I'm going to go out on a limb and assert with only anecdotal evidence that, on top of this, there has probably been a decline in similar smart, talented, patriotic, knowledgeable youngsters seeking employment, within various foreign affairs-related posts (State stands out in my mind), because of the reality that is the Bush administration. At what point would offering to serve, in whatever capacity, implicitly support the actions and ideals of the Bush administration's foreign policy? What are the ethical and moral dilemmas faced by the next generation when, although career motives may beckon, they recognize they can't exercise those skills or utilize that training without acting in concert with such a dismal enterprise?

Posted by Trips | February 8, 2008 8:45 PM

and it's been this way probably for 30 years...it's not a consequence of the Bush years.

Posted by robertl | February 8, 2008 9:24 PM

"Seriously it takes forever for the site to reload when you post stuff but the actual comments post instantly."

Yup. So click once, then go out for coffee, 'cause it ain't gonna change until either the management or IT at the Atlantic get a clue.

This is true of so many sites it isn't funny.

NONE of these people have ever heard of "load- balancing", or the two-second rule of system responsiveness.

It's like waiting for a mainframe to refresh a green screen back in 1975. This is progress?

No, it ain't progress. It's IT. And that means, as Woody Allen put it, "Nothing works and nobody cares."

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | February 8, 2008 9:53 PM

Was Still Broken's book launch party as good as Heads in the Sand's will be? I think we should be told.

Posted by otto | February 9, 2008 3:37 AM

If Valerie says "buy the book", I'm definitely getting it at the library.

"and it's been that way for probably 30 years...". Try sixty, rob.

Frank Snepp's classic "Decent Interval" from 1977 is telling more or less the same story as A.J. And that was after the "intelligence" community told us that Chaing Kai Shek was winning the Chinese civil war; that the North Koreans wouldn't cross the DMZ and the Chinese wouldn't cross the Yalu, that we had to support the French and the Diem brothers in Indochina (later that it was okay to kill the Diem brothers). Also that the Soviet Union was getting stronger, the Indians and Paki's weren't working on nukes, and that the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was a military target. And that it was a good idea to parachute agents into Albania and support terrorism in Central America, to overthrow Mossadeq and support the Shah, invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, etc., etc., etc.

Posted by Robert Powell | February 9, 2008 3:51 AM

So click once, then go out for coffee ...

Or just close the current tab and open the page in a new tab, takes 3 seconds.

Posted by novakant | February 9, 2008 11:06 AM

So establishing a new session takes less time than responding to the old one?

What kind of app are these idiots using?

Besides that, if you're down in the middle of the day's posts, you have to wait for the page to load, then scroll down to the post you were commenting to, then scroll down to see your comment. Takes damn near as long as waiting for the page refresh.

It's brain dead.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | February 9, 2008 11:19 PM