From the Bridge

We learn so much from reading. In a sense, every novel we pick up and read allows us to live another life entirely.

As we head into the summer, I went back to some of the great reads of the last century in fiction.  Some are famous and well known to generations of high school and college students -- but might deserve a re-read. Others are less well known to broad audiences.

I'm interested in hearing from others with recommendations -- and here are my 20 novels for summer reading:

"book stack" by ginnerobot on flickr

"Flashman" by George MacDonald Fraser. A rollicking (and secretly flawed) soldier from Victorian England finds himself in the middle of a disastrous retreat from Kabul in 1847.

"The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. A timeless study of the lost American post-WWI generation in Europe in the 1920s.

"The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The American dream spun out as tragedy in the roaring 20s.

"Gates of Fire," by Stephen Pressfield. Lessons learned from the Greek's heroic stand against the Persians at Themopylae.

"Dune," by Frank Herbert. An imagined world of jihad, drugs, court intrigue, and love set on a mythical dry planet.

"Never Let Me Go," by Kazuo Ishiguro. An atmospheric tale of the near-future, in which the protagonists struggle to learn why they exist. To say more would spoil the story.

"The Last Picture Show," by Larry McMurtry. Coming of age in a small west Texas town, by one of the best and most prolific writers of the American West.

"As I Lay Dying," by William Faulkner. Gothic southern journey, by the best chronicler of the American south.

"All the Pretty Horses," by Cormac McCarthy. Two young men and the adventure they discover across the Mexican border, by one of the best pure writers in American literature.

"Master and Commander," by Patrick O'Brian. First volume of 20 in an incredible series about a 19th century British naval Captain and his embarked surgeon.

"The White Tiger," by Aravind Adiga. Modern India depicted in all its corruption, energy, and beauty.

"Casino Royale," by Ian Fleming. First and best of the James Bond books.

"Bonfire of the Vanities," by Tom Wolfe. The mega-wealth of the New York city blue bloods, before it all comes crashing down.

"Sophie's Choice," by William Styron. Tragic and moving, the tale of a holocaust survivor and her broken life.

"Atonement," by Ian McEwan. A British family confronts the nightmare of the first World War, and their internal drama unfolds alongside global tragedy.

"I Claudius," by Robert Graves.  Augustus and his times, seen through the eyes of the often under-estimated and eventual emperor Claudius.

"The Stand" by Stephen King. A dystopic future, and among the best works of one of the most prolific writers of our time.

"The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger. Re-read it and discover a completely different and vastly better book than you will remember from 10th grade.

"Wolf Hall," by Hilary Mantel. The story of Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell brilliant re-imagined with a different hero altogether.

"Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad. A long, dark, and tragic journey up a river in Africa; but really about so much more.

Good reading -- and let me hear from you!
 

Best,
Jim

Admiral, USN
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
Commander, US European Command
"Stronger Together"

We've just concluded the two big warm-up events that have brought into focus what we'll be doing at the NATO Summit in mid-May, scheduled to be held in Chicago.

The first was a meeting with all of the NATO Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs (Secretary Panetta and Secretary Clinton and all their 27 contemporaries). 

The second was a meeting last week of all the military chiefs of defense, including U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and his peers. Both were vibrant and lively conversations.

I gave several briefings to both groups concerning global situation from an operational standpoint.  In addition to discussing Afghanistan, Syria, the Pacific, the Balkans, and the lessons of Libya, we finalized the key topics for the upcoming Summit:

Afghanistan:

        Overall, everyone seems satisfied with the current plan to get us from now through the end of 2014, when the Afghan Security Forces will be fully in charge of security.  The Afghans control security for 50% of the population, with an announcement expected shortly that will bring transition to the 75% level.  Violence against our forces is down 20% from last year, and the Afghan ability to respond to attacks is quite good -- they lead 40% of all operations today.  Despite the occasional "high profile incident," the broad strokes of that campaign continue along reasonably well.

        At Chicago, the key will be on the post-2014 commitment.  I think that the 28 NATO nations and the additional 22 partner nations will make a decade-long commitment to Afghanistan post-2014 -- funding their security forces at a reasonable level, engaging in civil-military cooperation, continuing efforts on economic development and education, and all the other things underway.  This commitment will send a strong and vital signal to the Taliban that the international community is here to stay.

Missile Defense:

        The NATO nations were happy to see the successful deployment of a US-based missile defense shield into Europe. They agreed to fold it into the NATO defensive structure, thus fulfilling treaty commitments as well as finding ways to contribute both financially and with their own systems in the future.

Smart Defense:

        In an era of constrained defense budgets, nations need to undertake efforts to specialize in operating high cost systems.  Not everyone needs a submarine force, and one ally's euros might be better spent on minesweepers or special forces, for example.

        Nations also need to pool and share resources.  A good example is what is called "Baltic Air Policing," where nations with high performance aircraft operate an air shield over the Baltic nations.  In return, the Baltic nations can concentrate on infrastructure to support the deployments and building their own capabilities in other areas.

        Missile defense is of course another good example of smart defense.  So is the Alliance Ground Surveillance System (AGS), which buys a Global-Hawk like unmanned aircraft fleet and deploys it to Italy under control of the NATO Command Structure.

USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) steams alongside the Royal Netherlands navy frigate HNLMS De Ruyter.

Partnerships:

        NATO has been very successful in partnering with a wide variety of nations in missions across the last ten years.  In Afghanstian, we have 22 international partners with troops on the ground, from Tonga, Australia, and New Zealand in the south Pacific to El Salvador (and soon, hopefully, Colombia) from Latin America.

        In the Libyan campaign, we also had the good fortune to have five partners from the Arab world, as well as traditional ally Sweden.

        And in the Balkans, where events continue to be challenging, we have Austria, Finland, Sweden, and other European partners working alongside our NATO forces.

        At the Chicago summit, there will be several "partnership events," to include a wide variety of nations working with NATO around the world.

So, as we think about the importance of the NATO alliance -- 140,000 troops around the world in current operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans, piracy, Libya until recently, and on patrol protecting the alliance -- we should have a lively discussion from all of the heads of state and government in Chicago!

Best,
Jim

Admiral, USN
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
Commander, US European Command
"Stronger Together"

Today, Baden-Württemberg (BW), Germany, celebrates the 60^th anniversary of officially becoming a state. I heartily congratulate them on this historic occasion.

BW has served as the host location for U.S. European Command (EUCOM) Headquarters since 1967. Our partnership with the community here has been an integral part of our command’s success, as we share the common vision of promoting a peaceful, stable region.

The year 2012 also marks the 60^th anniversary of EUCOM, which was established August 1, 1952. Over the past 60 years, the world has seen a lot of changes. However, one thing that has never changed is our need to forge and maintain ongoing solid, trusted relationships with countries in EUCOM’s area of responsibility – especially within NATO. By working together, and increasing our understanding of each other’s capabilities, we will continue to enhance our ability to respond to today’s global challenges and opportunities.

Those challenges are numerous. For example, last year we worked together with our NATO allies and coalition partners to save tens of thousands of lives from a despotic and unstable regime in Libya. Other examples include supporting continued progress and transition in Afghanistan and maintaining a safe environment in the Balkans. By sustaining vital relationships with our key allies and emerging partners in the region, the U.S. and its allies will be prepared to face the security challenges of the 21st century.

Baden-Württemberg represents a great combination of tradition with progress. I wish the people of BW a very happy birthday, and I look forward to continuing our valued partnership for years to come!

Best,
Jim

Admiral James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander Europe

In the world of security, we are generally focused on "risk."  We worry about the chances of war, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the likelihood of a ballistic missile attack, or the possibility of a biological contagion. Understanding risk allows us to calculate how much we should spend on defense compared to what our potential opponents are spending.

Focusing on risk for organizations like NATO and the Department of Defense in the United States makes sense, of course.

But I think we should spend a bit of our most precious resource -- time -- on thinking about and developing opportunities.

Members of the Italian navy's Gruppo Operativo Incursori board a commercial ferry via fastrope from a US Navy Knight Hawk helicopter.

One way to think about the principal opportunities in the realm of security is building bridges.

Indeed, in this turbulent 21st century, security will ultimately come from building bridges, not walls. Frankly, we saw what 20th century security, which focused on walls brought us: the Maginot Line, the Iron Curtain, the battle formations of the Fulda Gap -- 60 million dead in the 20th century's wars.

I would argue that we need to take a lesson from the cyber world, where much is made of open source software and courseware, plugging together bodies of knowledge and making them widely available. It is a classic example of building connections and bridges.

What we need is "open source security." Not in all situations or with all actors, but rather as a part of a careful approach that exploits opportunities even as we prudently assess the risks.

Some of the areas that might yield results in searching for opportunities include:

• Coalitions and Alliances working together -- NATO, ISAF in Afghanistan, KFOR in Kosovo, and the multi-national counter-piracy efforts off the Horn of Africa are all good examples.
• Convergent technology -- IT, info, surveillance, and cyber all offer opportunities, to include the power of social media as we see in the continuing "Arab Spring"
• Private-Public Cooperation -- offers potential in humanitarian activities, medical diplomacy, disaster relief, and linked development. See my earlier blog on this exciting opportunity, as well as the linked article.
• Trends in Democracy -- the long sweep of history increasingly appears to be on the side of freedom and liberty, with all the attendant challenges.  That means it is harder for despots like Kaddaffy or repressive regimes like the Taliban to hold onto power.
• New Geopolitical Actors in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and other parts of the world who are emerging as positive actors with significant capability -- Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, and Indonesia, are great examples and there are many more.
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  Innovative Technologies with positive social implications -- there may be promise in desalinization, biological approaches to crop and food stocks, renewable energy sources, new approaches to education and healthcare.   See "Abundance: Why the Future is Better Than You Think" by Peter Diamandis.  All of these create opportunities in the security sector as well.

Let's face the fact that the world remains a very dangerous place, and risk analysis (and mitigation) is at the heart of defense planning -- rightly so.  But we should also find time for some "opportunity analysis" as well, to include exploring the idea of "open source security" where appropriate.

The future may be a bit brighter than we think.

Best,
Jim

Admiral, USN
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
Commander, US European Command
"Stronger Together"

James Dehart, Department of State, listens to Dr. James MacDougall, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

I'm thinking about how to connect public and private efforts to create security.

In this turbulent 21st century, security is not about creating walls. We won't deliver a secure world strictly from the barrel of a gun.

Instead, we need systems to connect and integrate. Why? Because the security challenges require teamwork. Think about the threats: trafficking in narcotics, arms, weapons of mass destruction, and humans; cybercrime; ballistic missiles; natural disasters and their aftermath; terrorism. All of these cross borders effortlessly and therefore require connective activity to solve.

I think a good expression for this is "open source security." This means that wherever we can, we should be creating teaming arrangements between nations (international); governmental organizations (interagency); and -- this is what I've been working lately -- private-public.

There are lots of ways private sector efforts can connect with the public domain to help create security. A few we've been pursuing include:

• 

  USAREUR's 12th Combat Aviation Brigade conducts a resupply mission with the Montenegrin Red Cross to deliver medical supplies to Montenegrins stranded by severe weather in Northern Montenegro Feb. 22.

  Humanitarian Assistance: Combining non-governmental organizations with public sector actors like USAID, Department of Defense (we build schools and clinics all over the world), State Department.
• Disaster Relief: Responding to big events like the Haitian and Pakistani earthquakes, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the Japanese nuclear incident requires a mix of everything from the US Navy to Doctors without borders.
• Medical Diplomacy: Look at the USNS Hospital ships COMFORT and MERCY They have done hundreds of thousands of patient treatments all over the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. They are crewed by a mix of public and private entities, notably Operation Hope.
• Maritime Protection: In response to piracy off the coasts of Africa, public actors like NATO, EU, and various global Navies are working with Merchant shipping corporations and the International Maritime Organization to create "best practices" that keep mariners safe.
• Cyber:  In the turbulent cyber "seas," both public sector actors (in the case of the US, Department of Homeland Security, Justice, Department of Defense, NSA) as well as the big internet providers, server and cloud organizations, and literally billions of users are all stakeholders. This is an area where we must all cooperate and the work between private and public is crucial.

From a NATO and a US European Command perspective, we'll continue to work on this. In NATO, we call it the "comprehensive approach," and on the US side we are enabling a small cell of folks to work actively on private-public partnership. In both cases, we hope to contribute to security in sensible but non-traditional ways.

Best,
Jim

Admiral, USN
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
Commander, US European Command
"Stronger Together"