Category: Modern warfare

US Naval history book – “The Free Sea” (Naval Institute Press, 2018) – James Kraska interview

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James Kraska was a Judge Advocate General for the US Navy and has extensive experience on defense issues and Freedom of Navigation issues. He’s currently a visiting Professor of Law at the Naval War College. He has co-authored a book on the history of US enforcement of Freedom of Navigation and we spoke about the book.

1:56 – Professor. Kraska was a Navy Judge Advocate lawyer and in this capacity he learned and practiced the law regarding Freedom of Navigation. He taught at the Naval War College and completed a degree on the subject. Raul Pedroza, the other author, is also a retired Navy JAG and a professor of law.

3:55 – It has been imperative for the US to protect the sea for economic and security purposes. The book is a mix of history and law on Freedom of Navigation. The book starts with the Quasi-War with France and continues all the way through the current Chinese attempts to assert unlawful control of regional seas.

6:55 – The US defends Freedom of Navigation globally because no one else will do it. Many countries depend on the US to maintain order at sea. The Dutch enforced freedom of the seas in the 1500s and then the British took over enforcing these global rights.

8:57 – The US took over from the British around the 1880s. By 1945, the US had fully assumed the role of protecting freedom of the seas.

11:00 – Freedom of navigation is a continuous struggle to maintain these freedoms. The Gulf of Tonkin and Pueblo incidents are examples of violent conflict involving freedom of navigation.

12:37 – Political will and military capability are needed to maintain freedom of navigation. Territorial seas are part of the global commons. The US has operated on territorial seas and also on high seas to protect navigation freedoms. Surveillance aircraft are also used to maintain freedom of navigation on the seas.

17:31 – Using international airspace to protect the seas has been developing for the last hundred years. The International Civil Aviation organization also supports airspace use to protect Freedom of Navigation.

19:00 – The threat of piracy greatly declined by the 20th century as states have cohered into stronger entities. Piracy existed around Somalia because it was a failed state. Before the Treaty of Paris in 1856, many states used privateers to attack enemy shipping. After the treaty, states agreed to stop using privateers. Since then, threats to freedom of navigation come from nation states.

21:40 – Chinese actions now are the greatest threats to freedom of navigation since Germany’s U-boat wars. During the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union worked in tandem to preserve navigational freedoms.   The Soviet Union needed it more than the US due to the location of their bases. China wants to undo parts of the international agreements on freedom of navigation and keep others out of the waters close to their territory. They want to dominate the seas within the first island chain including the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

27:56 – During WWII, Japan wanted to control the seas around East Asia through war. China is trying to achieve the same goal but through a “Finlandization” of its neighbors. China has used fishing claims to try to assert control in these areas but that doesn’t work within the existing international agreements.

32:57 – The main focus of the book is that freedom of the seas is not a condition that [exists] can exist without promotion and protection. If the US stops exercising rights over global seas, then these rights will erode for all nations.

34:45 – Wilson called for a protection of freedom of navigation by all nations and for all nations. Roosevelt also insisted on maintaining these global rights. A group of united nations met during WWII to maintain rights and later they met after the war to form the United Nations.

37:27 – Both authors have extensive experience in this field especially for events over the last 15 years and beyond. They used CIA archives and presidential libraries to do some research.

39:00 – Washington saw the US as a liberal actor that supported all nations and conducted trade with all as well. But European politics continued to drag the US into conflict and affected trade.

42:50 – He was most moved by the sacrifices made to protect US interests. John Negroponte made an impassioned speech on freedom of the seas to remind people how much US security depended on freedom of the seas.

44:58 – His next writing project might be on the free seas from the British perspective. He’s also working on a project about Japan’s relationship with sea.

45:35 – Many of his articles are on the SSRN.

Links

https://www.ssrn.com/en/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: James Kraska

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, freedom of the seas, freedom of navigation, China, US, Britain, Germany, Japan, East China Sea, South China Sea, Quasi-War, Pueblo incident, WWII

Cold War history book – “Always at War” (Naval Institute Press, 2018) – Mel Deaile interview

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Dr. Mel Deaile attended the US Air Force Academy. He then became a bomber pilot and earned his PhD with the Air Force. He know teaches nuclear deterrence related subjects for the Air Force. He’s written a number of pieces and this is his latest book, Always at War about the Strategic Air Command.

1:30 – Dr. Deaile talks about his early writing. He’s spent 26 years in the Air Force and is retired. During this time he did a master’s thesis on nuclear weapons. Then the Air Force had him get a PhD in the field.

3:30 – In 1984 he reported to the Air Force Academy. He graduated from pilot training in 1989 and then given a B-52. Later he joined Strategic Air Command.

4:36 – The book was focused on explaining what was unique about the SAC’s organizational structure. Curtis LeMay was the originator of much of what made SAC different. He took it over in October 1948 and stayed for almost 9 years. His experience came from being a bomber pilot in WWII. His charge was to create and run strategic level force of bombers carrying nuclear bombs. He decided to create a force that was always ready for war.

8:23 – Competition among his personnel was one way he kept them sharp. LeMay kept a totem pole that ranked all his wing commanders. He also used bomb competitions.

9:46 – Bomber generals tended to be people who led the Air Force. The path to higher level command went through SAC. However, LeMay was opposed to general training and preferred on the job flight training.

11:45 – SAC was stood up in 1946 to do independent strategic bombing. They were to be kept out of the hands of theater commanders. Twentieth Air Force was the first and was converted to SAC.

13:53 – The Soviet Union affected how SAC did its job. They didn’t send their best assets to the Korean War so that the Russians wouldn’t learn what SAC’s best assets were like. They also worried about a US fifth column that would sabotage US national assets, so LeMay created red cells to test base security.

16:40 – When the Soviet Union put up Sputnik, SAC had its first alert under General Thomas Power three days before Sputnik went up. Truman created the Atomic Energy Commission to hold atomic materials for nuclear weapons. Eisenhower transferred custody of the weapons back to the military.

19:16 – Several things happened in 1962 that affected SAC. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one. SAC reached its highest personnel level in 1962. It was a huge part of the Air Force. It’s also the last year that a bomber was built for the US for many years afterwards. Lastly, the US turned to more flexible responses in war.

22:32 – Dr. Deaile explains why SAC had two legs of the nuclear triad. Missiles didn’t perform as well as bombs. Missiles were inaccurate and couldn’t always be fired when needed.

29:24 – He did research at Maxwell Air Force base and used many of the oral histories they have. He used the National Archives in Maryland to look at Air Force administrative records. He also interviewed General Dougherty who had been in charge of SAC. He also attended SAC reunions.

32:26 – Survival training at the Air Force Academy came from programs started by General LeMay for his pilots and crews. Auto hobby shops on Air Force bases came from General LeMay who loved working on cars. Aero clubs on bases also came from LeMay. LeMay also started gun clubs since he enjoyed shooting. He also instituted the dorm system on bases to replace Army style barracks.

37:42 – Dr. Deaile’s favorite part of the research was talking to old SAC members. They really respected General LeMay. They also loved all things Boeing.

40:11 – Dr. Deaile was surprised by how much in SAC came from what General LeMay learned in WWII.

44:17 – SAC was a command created to form a deterrent force. This book should be able to educate us how to create and hone a deterrent force.

49:55 – Dr. Deaile explains his record setting 44.3 hour bombing mission after 9/11.

54:14 – The book can be pre-ordered through Amazon or Naval Institute Press. You can order a signed copy through facebook or linkedin. He will also be teaching advanced nuclear deterrence studies.

 

For more “Military History Inside Out – Serious history for the critical thinker” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

 

Guests: Dr. Mel Deaile

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: US Air Force, air force, bombers, B-52, Strategic Air Command, General LeMay, nuclear deterrence, Sputnik, airmen, air force bases, nuclear triad

Vietnam War history book – “The Psychological War for Vietnam” (University Press of Kansas, 2018) – Merv Roberts interview

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Dr. Merv Roberts has worked on psychological operations in Afghanistan. His work there inspired him to write a history of psychological operations in the Vietnam War and I interviewed him about this book “The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960-1968.”

2:07- Dr. Roberts decided on studying Information Operations in Vietnam after he returned from a deployment to Afghanistan. No one had done an over arching study of Psychological Operations in the Vietnam War.

3:38 – The book is on joint operations and looked at both North and South Vietnam. He used the Foreign Broadcast Information Service collections.

5:25 – The North Vietnam program was modeled on the Soviet program. It’s about agitation and propaganda. The American system evolved over the course of the war. It came from the American advertising culture that used subjective truth.

8:38 – North Vietnamese leadership was divided over whether to focus on the North or to spread the revolution to the South. The US started trying to divide these factions in 1967 but then [we] the US ends psy war against the North after the Tet Offensive.

12:14 – The North became ineffective at waging psychological warfare against the South but was very effective in it’s worldwide campaign to get countries against the war.

17:11 – Dr. Roberts compares psychological operations and civil affairs activities. In Vietnam civil affairs fell under psychological operations.

21:31 – Edward Landsdale was good at psychological operations in the region.

23:55 – The North Vietnamese used some anti-war activists to spread their message.

27:03 – FBIS is a largely untapped resource for information on the Cold War and events during this period. He also wants to use Geographic Information Systems in conjunction with FBIS information. He also used the Hamlet level evaluations which he admits many people consider a subjective assessment of villages. There were also terrorist activity reports with geographic data attached. The Friendly Forces file provides data on where friendly forces were during the war.

34:04 – Most Psy Ops guys aren’t trained very well during Vietnam.

35:35 – Going through all the captured documents was fascinating for Dr. Roberts. Much of them haven’t been looked at more than once since capture.

37:03 – There are indications the program was effective in 1968.

39:08 – The Vietnamese go to Texas Tech when they want to research the Vietnam War because of how many documents Tech has from the war. FBIS is harder to get a hold of.

42:25 – There are very few books looking at psychological operations across various wars so this book will help fill that gap.

47:34 – There were problems between various US government organizations on how to do psy op in Vietnam. The State Department had the primacy on what messaging would be done in Vietnam.

 

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

 

Guests: Merv Roberts

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: vietnam war, psychological operations, north vietnam, tet offensive, hamlet program