RAN Reading List
Intelligence and Security
Naval Intelligence
Most Secret and Confidential
by Steven E. Maffeo published by Chatham Publishing, London, 2000
Most Secret and Confidential is a very insightful historical analysis of the difficulty in collecting and analysing (naval) intelligence information two centuries ago in time of war. The British experience from 1793-1815 is the main focus of this book, but it also looks at French and American activity and examines how commanders used intelligence to develop strategies and tactics and win (and sometimes lose) battles. It provides an invaluable insight into the timely and accurate intelligence and how the collected material is utilised. The book treats the reader to a close look at the ingenious methods used to obtain secret material and to deliver it to operational units at sea. Despite the book being scrupulously academic, it is very well researched, and it is 'real cloak-and-dagger' stuff; a fabulous read.
The Quest for C: Sir Mansfield Cumming and the Founding of the British Secret Service
by Alan Judd published by HarperCollins Publishers, London, 2000
This is a unique story, meticulously well-written, that discusses the inside history of the early years of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), through the life of it's founder and original 'C', Sir Mansfield Cumming. At first he had no staff, often paying for and mounting operations himself -with disguise and swordstick. But from these unlikely beginnings grew a sophisticated organisations that ran extensive spy networks behind German lines during WWI, later providing the only intelligence to come out of revolutionary Russia. Cumming's legacy not only provides an ethos that survives within the Secret Service to this day, but the green ink and famous 'C' signature still used by his successors. Packed with adventure and espionage, The Quest for C brings both the man and that most secret of institutions powerfully to life.
International Security
Understanding Global Security
by Peter Hough
published by Routledge, London, 2004
Understanding Global Security uses helpful case studies to illustrate the key concepts behind the increasing number of non-military threats to security, such as terrorism, ethnic rivalries, and transnational crime, while still exploring the more conventional areas such as war, nuclear weapons and the balance of power, including a discussion of the 2003 Iraq War. Global security has steadily broadened its meaning in the post-Cold War and post 9/11 world. This book introduces the reader to the core issues of both 'hard' security, which dominated the Cold War, and the 'soft' security that has emerged since. Overall, this is an excellent introductory book for personnel who are studying or are keen to know more about security studies, strategic studies and international relations.
Grave New World: Security Challenges in the 21st Century
edited by Michael E. Brown
published by Georgetown University Press, Washington DC, 2003
This scrupulously academic book examines a wide array of military and nonmilitary factors that will shape the security landscape in the 21st century, including the proliferation of nuclear, biological, radiological and conventional weapons; the development of military and nonmilitary technologies, including information technology and genetic engineering; the impact of demographic and environmental factors on stability and security; the changing nature of energy market and defence economics; and the unique security problems faced by the developing world. Special attention is given to the increasingly important role played by transnational actors -mass media organisations, criminal organisations, and terrorist organisations -in contemporary security affairs. By reading this book, it will provide the reader with a foundation for developing a better understanding of this complex, dynamic security landscape, which is a prerequisite to the development of effective policies that will foster national, regional, and international security.
Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia: Transnational Challenges to States and Regional Stability
edited by Paul J. Smith
published by M.E. Sharpe, New York, 2005
Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia brings together a number of well-known analysts on regional security and has them address the latest challenge to South East Asian stability - Islamist terror. This book explores the conundrum of how a region noted for its generally moderate versions of Islam has permitted jihadists to become embedded. The volume assesses terrorist challenges transnationally, in specific countries and as a result of enabling conditions - three frameworks that provide a comprehensive view of religious terrors past, present and future prospects. While most of the chapters focus on South East Asia, many of the themes apply to both organised crime and terrorism more broadly; it highlights military vulnerabilities to international violence and Islamic militancy. This book is useful for both military personnel and policy makers
Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?
by Amin Saikal published by Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2003
Amin Saikal is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. This engaging and illuminating book on Islam and the West provides a clearly written account of the relationship between the West (particularly the United States), especially since the tragic events of 11 September 2001. Interestingly, the book provides an argument that highlights a clash of civilizations, arguing that it is rather the consequence of particular contentious contemporary factors that have disrupted a historical pattern marked at least as much by cooperation as by conflict. Professor Saikal argues that the military might of the United States will not be enough to 'win the war on terror'; it must be accompanied by sound political strategies for factors such as the effects of American globalism, and the lack of democratisation in the Arab world, which have provided the impetus for terrorism.
Terrorism/Counter-terrorism
Terrorism Explained: The Facts about Terrorism and Terrorist Groups
by Clive Williams published by New Holland, Sydney, 2004
Clive Williams, a former Australian Army Intelligence Officer, who has spend the past thirty years working in the Australian intelligence community, is an authority on terrorism and counter-terrorism issues. This particular book draws on his years of expertise, to provide an understanding of what terrorism and terrorists are all about and why terrorism is different from all others forms of violence. Terrorism Explained is a very clear and practical overview of the history of terrorism, terrorist motivations, regional terrorism, terrorist modus operandi (including suicide bombings, hijacking, kidnapping, and other use of bombs and explosives), religious extremism, Cyber-terrorism, terrorism financing, political assassination, counter-terrorism and risk management. This is an easy to use and essential guide that helps us to understand the motives and methods of the terrorists groups that are operating both regionally and globally, as well as the prospect for future attacks.
Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas
by John S. Burnett published by Penguin Group, New York, 2002
John Burnett (a former reporter for United Press International and professional seaman) takes the reader on a great voyage onto the world's oceans and into the little-known world of pirates and maritime terrorism, after a personal experience on the high seas. Through ingenuity and little bit of luck, he survived, and his shocking first hand experience inspired him to investigate this global problem. Dangerous Waters charts piracy resurgence, and reveals the threat it poses to safety and security on the high seas. The author probes this dangerous world of thievery and mayhem, from the life-and-death struggles of brave captains and their crews, to the pirate hunters with bounties on their heads, and to the shadowy groups themselves who employ these ruthless, modern-day mercenaries. A dauntless investigation in a chilling phenomenon, this book is a breath taking modern tale at sea.
In the Shadow of Swords: On the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia
by Sally Neighbour
published by HarperCollins Publishers, Australia, 2004
This wonderfully written book by a prominent ABC Four Corners Journalist, Sally Neighbour, has provided the reader with a riveting account, based on extensive research, on Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and Al Qa'idah, and their links with the Bali bombings. After the Bali bombings, Abu Bakar Bashir was quoted as follows - between you and us there will forever be a ravine of hate - what does he mean by this? And how has Australia found itself the object of such hostility? In order to answer these questions, Sally Neighbour travelled to the mosques and rural villages of Indonesia to discover a trail that winds through Indonesia's rich but turbulent history, across Asia, and even into the suburbs of Australia. In tracing the lives and motivations of the combatants in this pitiless new war, Neighbour looks at how events in ancient, colonial and modern history have fed their discontent and how Australia's role in world events has helped it make it a target.
Worlds in Collision: Terror and the Future of Global Order
edited by Ken Booth and Tim Dunne
published by Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 2002
This provocative and timely collection of essays by some of the most well known intellectual thinkers of academia and analysts on terrorism, explores a myriad of topics -terrorism, power, global order, and culture. The essays are tightly argued, well written and fascinating and form a valuable collection for all readers - students, officers, policy makers and researchers alike.
The Changing Face of Terrorism
by Rohan Gunaratna (Editor)
published by Eastern University Press, Singapore, 2004
This book explores the ever-changing face of terrorism and the way it has changed in the last decade. The various contributions from specialised analysts and field operatives will provide the reader with greater insight into terrorist intentions and capabilities, their tactics, the technologies they use and the potential opportunities for attacks, thereby outlining the evolving threat of terrorism. Professor Gunaratna has added important new insight into the still dangerously limited knowledge base on the constantly changing phenomena of post-Cold War terrorism; the book provides a clear insight into a complex phenomena.
No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century
by Walter Laqueur published by Continuum, New York, 2003
Laqueur is one of the foremost experts on terrorism, researching and writing on the issue for the last several decades, long before anyone even conceived that terrorism would be an issue of such import. He is thus able to make the historic connections and grounded analysis that others lack. In a breakdown of the many forms and causes of terrorism, Laqueur looks at groups as varied as the turn of the 20th century Russian revolutionaries and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, who pioneered the current wave of suicide bombing and other tactics. In doing so, he goes a long way toward dispelling the prevailing conventional wisdom that terrorism, and its suicide bombing variant, are of a uniquely Muslim or Arab origin. He also clearly establishes both the continuity of terrorism as a phenomenon, and the important differences between the anarchists and radicals of the European intelligentsia of the 19th century, the nationalist liberation movements of the mid-20th century, and the more recent radical religious terror groups. The book contains an extensive bibliography providing essentially the entire library of terrorist studies for analysts and researchers starting off in the field.
Terrorism, Afghanistan, and America's New Way of War
by Norman Friedman published by Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2003
An in-depth analysis of the radically new tactics and strategy used by the United States in Afghanistan. He discusses how the war against terrorism has moved warfare into a realm of police and intelligence operations. This work is the first to study an evolving US tactical style that puts network-centric warfare into practice. Afghanistan operations are some of the first to test the new US philosophies. The role of the US Navy and Marine Corps in supporting operations within this landlocked country is fully explored.
