Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence is a collection of articles written by the Economist over the last few years, and so is not the type of book I would normally buy. The collection is, however, primarily military themed, and has a specific section on cyber-warfare and intelligence, so I was very interested getting hold of a copy to read and review.
Divided into the broad sections of Land & Sea, Air & Space and Cyber and Intelligence, this book provides a rare opportunity to look back into what amounts to the future, as predicted by the writer at the time of press. Glimpses of technology and strategies predicted, or “soon to be released”, can be analysed with the 20:20 view of hindsight, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions as to how successful or prevalent this ground-breaking invention will be. The Land & Sea section in particular is a technophile’s dream, with the last decade’s cutting edge research brought to light in varying levels of detail, and with predictions on how it will change warfare. With articles ranging from 2004 to the present day, I would normally assume that the genuinely useful inventions would get pushed through to the front line quite quickly, but some are still not there.
Back to the articles though, which vary in length and depth. Some are short, light on detail and seem to serve primarily as a point of interest for a specific issue, technology or event. Others are longer, providing both additional detail on the subjects covered and a good starting place for further research. It seemed to me that the later articles in the book, those in the “Cyber” category spring to mind, fell into the latter category. Space warfare and the domination of that new battlefield is covered well, with several articles on satellite interference and destruction, and how this could limit both civilian and military occupation of orbit. Another common theme is Estonia and its brief period of Internet isolation during 2007, also covered in quite a lot of detail, along with the rising threat of radicalisation via Internet and the dawning of the age of drones. However, with the increasing reliance on technology both within the military, and across all governments, maybe this focus on social and Internet technology is not surprising.
That focus does mean that there seems to be a fair amount of repetition. Not wholesale articles, but of people in the articles, places, and examples. The nature of “Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence” means that the authors are obliged to re-introduce a source every time they are used, something that jarred me a little during my reading of it. Sometimes events are covered more than once (Estonia’s short cyberdefeat at the [alleged] hands of Russia being a good example), but this can be forgiven in light of the alternative angles covered, or new information received. Rarely is a story less than interesting, all are informative.
“Modern Warfare, Intelligence and Deterrence” is an interesting and informative book. Some people may not like the format of the collection, but this does lend it well to train journeys or other situations when a short read of one or two articles is preferable to getting a short way through a chapter. If you have an interest in how technology has changed, and could change, the way we observe, prepare and carry out warfare, then consider this as an addition to your Christmas list.
Rating 3.5/5 mushroom heads
Fronty
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