Leebaert, Derek

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LEEBAERT, Derek

PERSONAL:

Male.

CAREER:

Georgetown University, Washington, DC, faculty member in government and business school departments; founding editor, International Security (journal). Consultant to U.S. government agencies. Board member, Army Historical Foundation.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Smithsonian fellow; postdoctoral fellow, Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) European Security: Prospects for the 1980s, Lexington Books (Lexington, MA), 1979.

(Editor) Soviet Military Thinking, Allen & Unwin (Boston, MA), 1981.

(Editor, with Richard J. Zeckhauser) What Role for Government? Lessons from Policy Research, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 1983.

(Editor) Technology 2001: The Future of Computing and Communications, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1991.

(Editor, with Timothy Dickinson) Soviet Strategy and New Military Thinking, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

(Editor) The Future of Software, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

(Editor) The Future of the Electronic Marketplace, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

The Fifty-Year Wound: The True Price of America's Cold War Victory, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2002, published as The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Shapes Our World, Back Bay Books (Boston, MA), 2003.

To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations, from Achilles to Al Qaeda, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

A scholar of government, military history, and security issues who has also edited books on technology, Derek Leebaert is a founding editor of the journal International Security. Many of his publications have been works he has edited, but he has also authored two books that have received considerable critical attention: The Fifty-Year Wound: The True Price of America's Cold War Victory and To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations, from Achilles to Al Qaeda. Though the subject matter in these books is quite different, they both offer some warning about current U.S. military policies.

In The Fifty-Year Wound Leebaert has some specific criticisms of the CIA and American foreign policy following World War II. His main point here is that although the United States won the Cold War against the Soviet Union, it was not, by any means, because of competent and wise political and military decisions. Poor intelligence, cronyism, lack of a cohesive strategy, gross misspending, and political infighting have plagued America's efforts to effectively defend itself against outside threats. Leebaert, for example, cites such failures as the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, America's support of petty dictators, and egregious overestimations of Soviet military might and capabilities. The author compiles "an impressive array of data" to back up his arguments in this "sprawling, highly readable history," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly contributor similarly concluded that The Fifty-Year Wound is "a brilliant and highly quotable examination of what went right and what went wrong." The author does not stop with the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's collapse, however, commenting on how the federal government's ill-conceived strategies still affect the country today in its current poorly executed war on terrorism. As Washington Monthly critic Jacob Heilbrunn concluded: "There is much more to Leebaert's splendid book than the new information he supplies about the CIA's activities. There are penetrating passages on everyone from John Foster Dulles to Ronald Reagan. But Leebaert's focus on the netherworld of intelligence activities is valuable because it suggests that the new war on terrorism may not be so new after all."

To Dare and to Conquer is a military history covering pivotal points in wars dating back to ancient times and all the way up to the war against Islamic terrorists. Retired U.S. general Wesley K. Clark evaluated Leebaert's text for the Washington Post Book World, declaring it "a fascinating tour of Western military history." Although Clark regretted the author's decision to neglect such brilliant military strategists and Genghis Kahn and Sun Tzu, he found the coverage of leaders ranging from Alexander the Great and Roman Empire generals to the United States leaders of World War II and beyond to show an "admirable sweep." Leebaert argues here that it has been special missions that take advantage of military intelligence, innovative tactics, and surprise that have proved key in winning battles and wars. Nevertheless, as Clark noted, the author warns that the success of special operations depends upon an appropriate political and military culture existing behind it. "Don't look for cheap, easy solutions; don't think that cowboy tactics like torturing opponents will work; don't assume that you can build up the right capabilities overnight," reported Clark; "and above all, don't believe that a few daring men (or women) at the cutting edge can resolve the contradictions and dilemmas associated with faulty policies and poor decision-making at the top." "Smart and well-argued," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor, To Dare and to Conquer is "sure to anger at least some in the Pentagon."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 1994, Denise Perry Donavin, review of The Future of Software, p. 642; August, 1998, Mary Whaley, review of The Future of the Electronic Marketplace, p. 1939; March 15, 2002, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Fifty-Year Wound: The True Price of America's Cold War Victory, p. 1208; March 1, 2006, Gilbert Taylor, review of To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations, from Achilles to Al Qaeda, p. 50.

California Bookwatch, August, 2006, review of To Dare and to Conquer.

Datamation, April 1, 1995, Andrea Ovans, review of The Future of Software, p. 72.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2002, review of The Fifty-Year Wound, p. 88; January 15, 2006, review of To Dare and to Conquer, p. 74.

Library Journal, September 15, 1998, Lucy T. Heckman, review of The Future of the Electronic Marketplace, p. 90; March 1, 2002, Ed Goedeken, review of The Fifty-Year Wound, p. 119; February 15, 2006, David Lee Poremba, review of To Dare and to Conquer, p. 132.

PC Magazine, September 10, 1991, Rick Ayre, review of Technology 2001: Tomorrow's Ideas, Today's Technology, p. 73.

Publishers Weekly, February 11, 2002, review of The Fifty-Year Wound, p. 176; January 16, 2006, review of To Dare and to Conquer, p. 52.

Washington Monthly, March, 2002, Jacob Heilbrunn, review of The Fifty-Year Wound, p. 59.

Washington Post Book World, March 12, 2006, Wesley K. Clark, "The Commando Option," review of To Dare and to Conquer, p. 6.