A Swift, Elusive Sword:
What if Sun Tzu and John Boyd
Did a National Defense Review

by Dr. Chester W. Richards

What would a truly "transformed" military look like?  Nothing like the one we have today (that's sort of what "transformation" means.)

Published in May 2001 by the Center for Defense Information and translated into Russian.  Used as a text by the National Defense University, the US Naval Academy, and the Norwegian Naval Staff Course.

Buy the complete Second Edition (2003) at Amazon.com and download a presentation (381 KB PDF file.)

Visit CDI's Military Reform Project, producer of A Swift, Elusive Sword.

Transformation Under Fire

A major new book by COL Douglas MacGregor, US Army (Ret.), author of Breaking the Phalanx.  While the U.S. Army clings to force designs and concepts rooted in thinking framed by WWII, it urgently needs innovative methods of command, leadership, and combat organization.  Even the United States can face disaster if its military organizations cannot operate effectively in the new strategic environment. Order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

America's Army and the Revolution
 in Human Affairs

by Major Donald E. Vandergriff, US Army

MAJ Vandergriff's follow-on to Spirit, Blood and Treasure.  The nuts and bolts of what it will take to make the US Army a cohesive and responsive instrument of national policy.  We can't stake our security on the gamble that all future enemies will be as incompetent as Saddam.

Commentary and reviews on the Defense and the National Interest website.

Order online from Amazon.

John Boyd and American Security

 by Dr. Grant T. Hammond
Director, Center for Strategy & Technology,
US Air War College

NEW! Now available in paperback.

Reviews of The Mind of War by Colin Gray, Gary Hart, Newt Gingrich,  Gen Anthony Zinni, and others.

Dr. Hammond's thorough and highly readable examination of Boyd's life, work, and influence was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press.  Order online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Secrets of Computer Espionage
Tactics and Countermeasures

by Joel McNamara

Published in June 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Available at Amazon, B&N, or your neighborhood book store.

Phantom Soldier:
The Enemy's Answer to U.S. Firepower

by H. John Poole, William S. Lind (Foreword)

What it means to confront an enemy that really understands Sun Tzu.  It could also be read as a manual for 4GW at the tactical level, where tunneling, as we're re-discovering in Afghanistan, is an Eastern art form. Good illustrations of how Boyd's "asymmetric fast transients" would appear in land combat.

For an even more tactical view, read Poole's latest, The Tiger's Way.

Available at Amazon, B&N, or your neighborhood book store.

Boyd:  The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War

by Robert Coram

This biography of John R. Boyd was published by Little, Brown in November 2002. Please read the reviews.  The paperback edition is now available.

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO), ranking Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, includes Boyd on his National Security Reading List.

Paperback now available at Amazon, B&N, or your neighborhood book store.

The American Cost of Battle
in the 21st Century

Edited by  Major Donald E. Vandergriff, US Army

A short review, written by the webmaster of Defense and the National Interest

The introduction to Spirit, Blood, and Treasure. Why the events of 11 Sep 2001 show us the face of future war.

Available at your local book store, or order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders.

Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming

by Dr. Jonathan Shay with Foreword by US Senators Max Cleland and John S. McCain

The second in Dr. Shay's series on how the erosion of trust destroys people and organizations. A worthy successor to Achilles in Vietnam, with lessons for any leader in any type of organization.

Order on-line from Amazon.