Recommended Reading

Top Billing! ADM. Michael Mullen – Strategic Communication: Getting Back to Basics

Initially, I didn’t care for this salvo from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at all, and I was inclined to write a critical post. Then I read it a second time and decided that I was being put off more by some superficial rhetorical flourishes than what were the Admiral’s main substantive points, with which I essentially agreed. Admiral Mullen also deserves credit for modeling intellectual leadership by putting his own ideas into the arena rather than relying upon public affairs officers to issue bland statements in his name. This is exactly what we should see from our senior military officers – leadership!

That said, I will add that the earlier, historical, “natural”, synchronicity between word and deed to which Mullen alluded was because the United States operated from a coherent grand strategy, first the Open Door Policy and then after WWII, the Atlantic Charter and Containment Doctrine. We do not have any comparable elite consensus over grand strategy today which is (partially) why we have a mismatch between our message and our actions.

Some reactions here, here, here, here and here.

Esquire (Thomas PM Barnett) –Obama Targets Jack Bauer, but Who Takes the Fall?

World Politics Review (John Robb) – Risk and Resilience in a Globalized Age: Containing Chaos              

Fast Company -(Jamais Cascio) – Three Possible Economic Models and Three Possible Economic Models (Part II)

Tom, John and Jamais are staple reads for me. Dr. Barnett analyzes the Obama administration’s Hamelt-like effort to deconstruct the CIA’s clandestine division over Bush-era harsh interrogation-sliding into-torture. Robb and Cascio are engaged in very complementary, scenario/paradigm based futurism. Speaking of using scenarios, anyone hear from Art Hutchinson lately? His expertise is missed in the strategic blogosphere.

Federal Computer Week  (Mark Drapeau) – Social-media bans miss the mark

Dr. Mark Drapeau is becoming the Gov 2.0 go to guru inside the Beltway. Follow him on twitter at @cheeky_geeky .

Zero Intelligence Agents – What’s Wrong with the ‘Terrorist Facebook’

Excellent methodological take-down by Drew.

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