Naval Operations in the Twentieth Century Book Review

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Admiral's Advantage -- U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in World War II and the Cold War

The Admirals Advantage

The Admirals Advantage is a book that is based on an Operational Intelligence (OPINTEL) 'Lessons Learnt' symposium that was held in 1998 at the National Maritime Intelligence Centre. It also borrows from studies conducted by the reserve units of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that were conducted in the period between 1994 and 2004. The book is written by Christopher Ford and David Rosenberg, who received assistance from Randy Balano. Christopher Ford served as the Republican Chief Counsel to the U.S. committee on appropriations and among other previous roles; he had served as U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's general counsel[footnoteRef:1]. He is also a graduate from Yale and Harvard. At the time the book was being written, David Rosenberg worked in the Institute for Defense Analyses as a professional staff member in the Intelligence Analyses Division, and he also graduated from the University of Chicago with an a PHD in History[footnoteRef:2]. Rosen received immense recognition for receiving a five-year MacArthur fellowship for his Cold War nuclear strategy studies, as no other military historian had received such an award before[footnoteRef:3]. [1: Christopher Ford and David Rosenberg, The Admirals Advantage: U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in World War II and the Cold War (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2014),811] [2: Ford and Rosenberg, The Admiral's Advantage, 813] [3: Ford and Rosenberg, The Admiral's Advantage, 813]

Being naval intelligence officers, reservists, and academics, the authors were well suited to provide insight to naval operations as they provided an insider's point-of-view and they were also objective as outsiders, which enabled them to narrate the events that took place clearly and in a way that outsiders could understand[footnoteRef:4].

Stuck Writing Your "Naval Operations in the Twentieth Century" Book Review?

This book is more of a report than a narrative as it presents the structures of the organization and the naval operations in chronological order. However, due to the classified nature of the material used in the book, and the involvement of top ranking directors of the naval intelligence, which warranted a certain level of seriousness, readers with no background on this field may not get entertained easily and they may have to rely heavily on the acronym and the abbreviation section of the book. [4: Ford and Rosenberg, The Admiral's Advantage, 13]

The authors begin by defining OPINTEL as "the art of providing near real time information concerning the location, activity, and likely intentions of potential adversaries"[footnoteRef:5]. The overall theme then centers on the major role played by the right kind of analyst or consumer relations in the successful use of intelligence, as it highlights the nexus between the operations of the naval team, intelligence, and technology. The book explores the important element of naval OPINTEL in relation to the Soviet Union and touches on the relationship between U.S. naval commanders….....

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