The definitive book about America's perpetual wars and how to end them from bestselling author, military expert, and award-winning journalist William M. Arkin.
The first rule of perpetual war is to never stop, a fact which former NBC News analyst William M. Arkin knows better than anyone, having served in the Army and having covered all of America's wars over the past three decades. He has spent his career investigating how the military throws around the word "war" to justify everything, from physical combat to today's globe-straddling cyber and intelligence network.
In The Generals Have No Clothes, Arkin traces how we got where we are—bombing ten countries, killing terrorists in dozens more—all without Congressional approval or public knowledge. Starting after the 9/11 attacks, the government put forth a singular idea that perpetual war was the only way to keep the American people safe. Arkin explains why President Obama failed to achieve his national security goal of ending war in Iraq and reducing our military engagements, and shows how President Trump has been frustrated in his attempts to end conflict in Afghanistan and Syria. He also reveals how COVID-19 is a watershed moment for the military, where the country's civilian and public health needs clash with the demands of future wars against China and Russia, North Korea and Iran.
Proposing bold solutions, Arkin calls for a new era of civilian control over the military. He also calls for a Global Security Index (GSX), the security equivalent to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which would measure the national and international events in real time to determine whether perpetual war is actually making the nation safer. Arguing that the American people should be empowered by facts rather than spurred by fear, The Generals Have No Clothes outlines how we can take control of the military…before it's too late.
Después del 11 de septiembre, el gobierno de los
Estados Unidos dio inicio a un esfuerzo sin precedentes
para proteger el país. El resultado ha sido calamitoso:
después de 10 años de continuo desarrollo e
inversiones sin paralelo, ahora existe un sistema para
proteger a los Estados Unidos que bien puede estar
poniendo al país en mayor peligro- pero el público no
conoce estos detalles porque todo se ha clasificado
como "secreto máximo."
En este libro Norteamérica Ultrasecreta (Top Secret
America) los galardonados periodistas Dana Priest y
William M. Arkin han descorrido la cortina que cubre
este universo clandestino. Desde las empresas y
agencias que vigilan a los ciudadanos norteamericanos,
los comandantes militares creando la primera "ciudad
ultrasecreta" en los Estados Unidos, a un ejército
secreto operando dentro de la milicia norteamericana,
pero con una clasificación secreta más elevada que la
de la CIA, este nuevo pulpo de seguridad nacional se
ha convertido en un auto-sostenible "cuarto poder" del
gobierno. Esta es una profunda labor de periodismo de
investigación. Norteamérica Ultrasecreta (Top Secret
America) revela un fascínate y a la vez perturbador
recuento del surgimiento de un gobierno descontrolado
y una guerra contra el terrorismo descarrilada, en un
mundo pos-11 de septiembre.
UNMANNED is an in-depth examination of why seemingly successful wars never seem to end. The problem centers on drones, now accumulated in the thousands, the front end of a spying and killing machine that is disconnected from either security or safety.
Drones, however, are only part of the problem. William Arkin shows that security is actually undermined by an impulse to gather as much data as possible, the appetite and the theory both skewed towards the notion that no amount is too much. And yet the very endeavor of putting fewer human in potential danger places everyone in greater danger. Wars officially end, but the Data Machine lives on forever.
Throughout his career, Arkin has exposed powerful secrets of so-called national security and intelligence. Now he continues that tradition. The most alarming book about warfare in years, UNMANNED is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of mankind.
A stunning exploration of the subtle erosion of freedom in an age of concocted fear and de facto military authority.
When we think of a military coup, the first image that comes to mind is a general, standing at a podium with a flag behind him, declaring the deposing of elected leaders and the institution of martial law.
Think again.
In AMERICAN COUP, William Arkin reveals the desk-bound takeover of the highest reaches of government by a coterie of "grey men" of the national security establishment. Operating between the lines of the Constitution this powerful and unelected group fights to save the nation from "terror" and weapons of mass destruction while at the same time modifying and undermining the very essence of the country. Many books are written about secrecy, surveillance, and government law-breaking; none so powerfully expose the truth of everyday life in this state of war.
The top-secret world that the government created in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks has become so enormous, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or exactly how many agencies duplicate work being done elsewhere. The result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe may be putting us in greater danger. In TOP SECRET AMERICA, award-winning reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin uncover the enormous size, shape, mission, and consequences of this invisible universe of over 1,300 government facilities in every state in America; nearly 2,000 outside companies used as contractors; and more than 850,000 people granted "Top Secret" security clearance.
A landmark exposé of a new, secret "Fourth Branch" of American government, TOP SECRET AMERICA is a tour de force of investigative reporting - and sure to spark national and international alarm.
