What are you reading?

[Farva01]

Finished Oceans Ventured by former Secretary on the Navy John Lehman. The timeline is a bit jumbled and he repeats himself a lot, but a really interesting book to read based on current events.
The book is about the build up to a 600 ship Navy and how the United States kept poking the Soviets in the eye by using large exercises to show the superiority of the US Navy. Gave me a better perspective and appreciation for what are usually pain in the ass exercises (e.g. Valiant Shield).
Definitely going to recommend it as reading for my JOs as we get into workups and deployment.

 

[Austin-Powers]

You scream when boiled?

I think he means he likes to be drawn with butter...but that is too freaky even for my tastes

 

[BigIron]

Interesting and free e-book:

https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/China_Warning_Order_PDF.pdf

 

[Griz882]

Found this one in the "Little Free Library" on my street. Pretty interesting read in that the guy started as an Army pilot (with a GED), jumped to the Marines, and did a Royal Navy flying tour. An easy read with some good stories.

 

[Farva01]

Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
By Peter “Booger” Fey.
Booger is a Prowler guy who I overlapped with in Fallon. He worked on this book for a long time and it is a good read. I can’t even fathom the optempo those guys went through. The loss of life and aircraft is just staggering no matter how many times you hear it. Get in the books and be better than the enemy and hope
You are resourced for what you need.

Amazon.com: Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War eBook : Fey, Peter: Kindle Store

Amazon.com: Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War eBook : Fey, Peter: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com

 

[nittany03]

Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
By Peter “Booger” Fey.
Booger is a Prowler guy who I overlapped with in Fallon. He worked on this book for a long time and it is a good read. I can’t even fathom the optempo those guys went through. The loss of life and aircraft is just staggering no matter how many times you hear it. Get in the books and be better than the enemy and hope
You are resourced for what you need.

Amazon.com: Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War eBook : Fey, Peter: Kindle Store

Amazon.com: Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War eBook : Fey, Peter: Kindle Store

www.amazon.com

Wow. Seems to be attracting some legit reviews. I think this guy may have written a book or two.

 

[Brett327]

Nearly done with former SDNY-USA Preet Bharara's "Doing Justice." It offers an interesting insider's view of the criminal justice process broken down into three main parts - Investigation, Accusal, Trial. In addition, it offers some very interesting thoughts on prosecutorial discretion, leadership, creating the right culture in an organization and a lot of other topics that are applicable to those whose job it is to lead. It touches briefly on some of the prosecutions of Manafort, Flynn, but it is not a book about Trump. It addresses how lawyers deal with the various idiosyncrasies of judges and perps. Most interesting to me was the fairly detailed examination on interrogation techniques and how the FBI has done a lot of work over the years to truly understand what works and what doesn't. Definitely recommended reading.

 

[Jim123]

Most interesting to me was the fairly detailed examination on interrogation techniques and how the FBI has done a lot of work over the years to truly understand what works and what doesn't.

I'm guessing that the best methods are something other than Hollywood/Jack Bauer/internet tough guy "keep punching the guy in the head."

 

[Brett327]

I'm guessing that the best methods are something other than Hollywood/Jack Bauer/internet tough guy "keep punching the guy in the head."

He spend a good amount of time with an anecdote from a Nazi POW interrogator and how he was successful in extracting info from POWs. There's all kinds of evidence out there that building trust and rapport with the person being interrogated is the most effective method. FBI spent decades studying this, which is why there was so much tension at the outset of GWOT with CIA (and those they contracted), who pushed the Jack Bauer methods. Turns out, guys with no real experience at interrogating resorted to hyper-aggressive methods, and got very little of value from their subjects.

 

[Gatordev]

I've always been fascinated by interrogation, whether it be Law & Order type stuff or SERE stuff. And also, by extension, the art of manipulating people to do something they wouldn't immediately volunteer to do. It touches on so many different aspects of life...day-to-day interactions, debating points, and even just basic leadership.

I think part of why I enjoy watching the show Cops so much is because it's interesting to watch either a perp who's really bad at interrogation but also one that's pretty adept at wasting the cop's time for as long as he can.

 

[IKE]

Turns out, guys with no real experience at interrogating resorted to hyper-aggressive methods, and got very little of value from their subjects.

Sounds exactly like bad parenting.

 

[Hair Warrior]

I've always been fascinated by interrogation, whether it be Law & Order type stuff or SERE stuff. And also, by extension, the art of manipulating people to do something they wouldn't immediately volunteer to do. It touches on so many different aspects of life...day-to-day interactions, debating points, and even just basic leadership.

I think part of why I enjoy watching the show Cops so much is because it's interesting to watch either a perp who's really bad at interrogation but also one that's pretty adept at wasting the cop's time for as long as he can.

Does that include manipulating or eliciting information from unwitting people? Or, strictly overt interrogation, i.e. the interviewee knows exactly who the interviewer is?

 

[wink]

He spend a good amount of time with an anecdote from a Nazi POW interrogator and how he was successful in extracting info from POWs. There's all kinds of evidence out there that building trust and rapport with the person being interrogated is the most effective method. FBI spent decades studying this, which is why there was so much tension at the outset of GWOT with CIA (and those they contracted), who pushed the Jack Bauer methods. Turns out, guys with no real experience at interrogating resorted to hyper-aggressive methods, and got very little of value from their subjects.

Anyone interested in the interrogation of terrorists and the history of the enhanced techniques program needs to read James Mitchell's book Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds of and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists trying to destroy America. Yes, he is the vilified psychologist who largely designed the program and personally interrogated the worst of the worst. Anyone who thinks that the formal approved enhanced techniques program was about random infliction of pain or Jack Bauer methods is very wrong. In fact, soft techniques, trust and rapport was the foundation of the enhanced techniques program. They are not mutually exclusive.

It is a very interesting read. No matter what you think of EITs, the stories he tells about his relationships and conversations with all your most well known terrorists is highly enlightening and well worth the read alone. He does of good job of telling the history of and legal debates surrounding EITs and how it evolved. He spares no punches in criticizing the politicians and media types who revealed confidential information for political gain or lied about knowledge of or details of the program. And, he innumerate the valuable intel obtained through the EIT program. The conventional wisdom is wrong. I saw him speak on a cspan program. He is no Neanderthal. He is a real academic who was recruited for the job. The news and books were dominated by critical opinions and accounts not part of the official progrram. Even pro EIT people were often just hard core, kill'em all and let God sort them out kind a folks. This was the first book I read that defended the official program from personal knowledge, highlighted the flaws outside the official EIT program and for good measure, provides a look into the minds of the worst of the worst. You can not have an opinion on EITs unless you read this book.

 

[Flash]

He spend a good amount of time with an anecdote from a Nazi POW interrogator and how he was successful in extracting info from POWs. There's all kinds of evidence out there that building trust and rapport with the person being interrogated is the most effective method. FBI spent decades studying this, which is why there was so much tension at the outset of GWOT with CIA (and those they contracted), who pushed the Jack Bauer methods. Turns out, guys with no real experience at interrogating resorted to hyper-aggressive methods, and got very little of value from their subjects.

I've read some accounts of one of Saddam Hussein's interrogators and they are pretty interesting, one of the things he did to establish a rapport with Saddam was to read his poetry. Apparently the poetry was atrocious but he was able to pretty decent rapport with him and glean a lot of info from the interrogations.

You can not have an opinion on EITs unless you read this book.

Bullshit. You don't have to read a book from one of the creators of program, and provide him royalties, in order to have a informed opinion on a pretty well covered program. You don't think the guy won't give the most favorable account possible to defend himself?

Everyone from SERE to General Mattis and countless cases of domestic police 'enhanced interrogation' with disastrous results have discounted the effectiveness the torture used in 'EIT'. Of course the guy is going to claim his methods worked, he is one of the primary ones response for developing them. But the greatest irony I see in the whole mess is he taught at the school where they teach that the methods they used aren't effective. And they aren't. Then there is the simple fact that it goes against our core values, not to mention laws, as a nation.

A much more comprehensive review and criticism of the author's work was published in the CIA's Studies in Intelligence, to include pointing out several false claims and glaring omissions the author makes in his book, it is lengthy but well worth the read.

 

[wink]

I've read some accounts of one of Saddam Hussein's interrogators and they are pretty interesting, one of the things he did to establish a rapport with Saddam was to read his poetry. Apparently the poetry was atrocious but he was able to pretty decent rapport with him and glean a lot of info from the interrogations.



Bullshit. You don't have to read a book from one of the creators of program, and provide him royalties, in order to have a informed opinion on a pretty well covered program. You don't think the guy won't give the most favorable account possible to defend himself?

Everyone from SERE to General Mattis and countless cases of domestic police 'enhanced interrogation' with disastrous results have discounted the effectiveness the torture used in 'EIT'. Of course the guy is going to claim his methods worked, he is one of the primary ones response for developing them. But the greatest irony I see in the whole mess is he taught at the school where they teach that the methods they used aren't effective. And they aren't. Then there is the simple fact that it goes against our core values, not to mention laws, as a nation.

A much more comprehensive review and criticism of the author's work was published in the CIA's Studies in Intelligence, to include pointing out several false claims and glaring omissions the author makes in his book, it is lengthy but well worth the read.

You are correct. You can have an opinion. It just would not be the most informed if you don't give the guy who was there the time of day. I will not debate this here as it belongs in the War Zone. But if you don't think the CIA or anyone else critical of the program has an agenda you are fool. Just because it has an official Murica stamp on it doesn't mean it can't be bull shit. We are talking the CIA. Not like they don't ever shade the truth or mislead people. Isn't that kind of in their job description. Oh, and shading the truth wouldn't ever protect their jobs or preserve a budge line item from cut by an irate congress. If you don't want your $1.00 royalty going to the guy I hear there is a local library in your neighborhood.