Your Government Failed You audiobook

Richard Clarke worked for decades in the United States government's national security world. He reached the upper levels of government serving as an Assistant Secretary State and as the chief counter-terrorism official. He left government in 2003 over his disagreements overIraq policy. Shortly thereafter he wrote Against All Enemies, a memoir of his service, as well as a sharp critique of the Bush Administration's terror policy. In his latest book, Your Government Failed You, expands his critique from the personalities and policies of the Bush Administration to the structure and culture of the national security apparatus.There isn't much that escapes Clarke's scrutiny. The Defense Department reforms meant to avoid another Vietnam failed to prevent Iraq, but helped make it worse. The turf wars, resource allocation and hiring practices of the intelligence community fail to prevent strategic surprise. The Homeland Security Department is described as a underfunded, sum weaker than its parts agglomeration that serves more as a new spoils system than a provider of security.What is particularly challenging about fixing the issues laid out is the great difficulty in fixing them. In many cases, major legislation will be required and the necessary compromise will take quite a bit of time to implement. More worrisome is whether any single Administration can tackle all of these things in a single or even two terms.Topics like defense reorganization and the role of the National Guard might be rather dry, but Clarke is writing for both the lay reader and the policy wonk. He provides specific detail about what to fix, but does so in an fashion that doesn't require subject matter expertise. I am particularly happy that Clarke includes global warming (and cyber-security) as a national security issue and that it be treated with the same urgency as issues like terrorism. In terms of threats to the homeland, global warming is probably the worst of all.None of these issues will be easy to fix and fixing any will be made all the more difficult by the change in the people doing the work. The ideal of government service has certainly faded in this country. Kai Bird, in his masterful the Color of Truth (which, if you can't guess, is gray,) describes the noblesse oblige that led the privileged like the Bundy brothers to seek government service. This is gone, but the government hasn't helped the cause either. On the one hand it continues to outsource key jobs, which may save a bit of money but also fails to develop long term leaders for the government. Then it makes the hiring practices overly long, complicated and demanding and provides pay scales that often require great sacrifice of those who might serve.In the book, Clarke lays out a number of policy prescriptions to fix the problems he addresses. The most critical one has to be the human resources question. If the government doesn't have the right people to do the work, all the other fixes will come to naught. It is here that Clarke provides the hope that his list of changes might actually be achievable. When the government has the right people in place, it can work wonders.

Must reading for those wanting insights into what lead up to 9-11, how 9-11 has been used for harm as well as somewhat for good purposes, how complicated the business/industrial/government complexes are in the 21st Century. Clarke's writing is clear, moves quickly with great detail, and is well measured. He states that not only has our country failed us but that he also failed us in not getting the influence and power to keep the Bush administration from basing foreign and war policies on lies and incompetence. I read his first book just after 9-11--as audiobook--and it confirmed my fears and created fears I didn't know I should have had. I have a vivid body/mind image of listening to the tapes while walking from a hotel, over a highway, and on to a store in Denver where I could get a recharger for my phone, now remembering where I was when I was listening to his accounting of the attack on the Cole, the weirdness of the Cole's putting into that port, the sailors' waving to the small boat just before that boat blew up the Cole, killing a number of Navy personnel.

As much as Clarke likes to toot his own horn, I can easily overlook that when thinking about some of his ideas and that there aren't very many as qualified experience wise as he is, to actually understand the subjects he writes about. It's complicated and he's been in the drivers seat when it comes to Washington insiders and Pentagon highups for a long time. Cheers for having the guts to take on some hard issues facing this country.

This book takes an uncompromising look at the inability of the government to prevent security and intelligence failures, like those that occurred before 9/11.Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the US Army had no counter-insurgency strategy. Part of the reason was to not resurrect unpleasant memories from Vietnam, and part of the reason was the absolute belief among top officials of the Bush Administration that it would not be needed, that the US troops would be greeted as liberators. It wasn’t until four years into the war that General Petraeus was asked to put together a counter-insurgency strategy.In Iraq, there is a nearly equal number of US troops and civilian contractors. There is a similar ratio between government and private intelligence analysts here in America. The author thinks that should change, now. Analysis should be brought back under government control. Analysts also have no access to public sources of information. Some public bit of information may be all that is needed to, for instance, turn a satellite photo into a photo of secret missile bases.The author also feels that the percentage of ambassadorships and high-level defense and security jobs available to big political contributors and former elected officials should be reduced by a lot; those jobs belong to the professionals. Other countries are better than America at getting human spies on the "inside." That part of the US intelligence business should be downsized, and America should focus on the technical part of intelligence gathering. But, America needs to resist the temptation to launch more and more sophisticated satellites into orbit, when a simpler satellite will do the job.Clarke feels that the next major battleground will be in cyberspace. The current staff of the Office of Management and Budget working on federal IT security is 2 people. That should be increased to more like 200 people, and they should get the clout to force agencies to take proper security precautions.Clarke has spent many years in high government positions, so he knows what he is talking about. Here is a fascinating, and eye-opening, book that will help to explain large parts of recent US foreign policy.

An expert analysis on the current state of our national security. Richard Clarke shows how politics and inefficiencies within US intelligence bureaucracies have impeded America's abilities to keep pace with a post 9/11 world. His reputable experience and acumen on issues such global conflicts, cyber warfare, and the US intelligence community not only come with diagnoses, but remedies. Fact-filled and eye-opening. A must read.

It amazes me that a book written almost 10 years ago could be still so timely. Nothing appears to have changed for the better since Bush 43 took office. Bipartisanship seems to be a lost art. The greed is still rampant, the cronyism is worse then ever and the good people seem to be forced out in bigger numbers. This is not a book about politics but a serious expose of what needs to be fixed. Please read!! I hope we have another Kennedy type of person to get things moving.

I like Clarke's books, I think it's interesting to see an insider's perspective on the situation. Given how things went, it's illuminating to say the least.

Clarke continues to be one of the best commentators and analysts on the actions of the U.S. government related to security.

great review by Boston Latin School graduate

A must read. Even more important now then when the book was first ublished in 2008.

I really enjoyed this book.