Richard A. Gabriel, professor of politics at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., served twenty-two years as an active intelligence officer, much of it spent at the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence in the Pentagon. A consultant to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, he is the author of numerous books on military subjects, including Operation Peace for Galilee and Crisis in Command (with Paul Savage).
Gabriel begins with a good chapter on why things go wrong in the military and then details what went wrong in five small-scale American military opera tions: the raid on Sontay prison in North Vietnam; the rescue of the crew of the Mayaguez in Cambodia; the Ira nian hostage mission; the involvement in Beirut; and the invasion of Grenada. His thesis, as in his earlier books, is that command channels are so con fused that they invite failure. He dem onstrates how each of these operations was mismanaged from the top. The cul prits were not the soldiers, but the offi cers and civilians who did the planning. Gabriel makes his points with convic tion and an insider's appreciation. The journalistic writing is clear and general ly factual, but a bit too emotional to have much impact in public debate. For comprehensive collections. Edward Gibson, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, Va.
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