Norton, Richard

Thornton, Rod

English

U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons

Naval War College ReviewVolume 61Number 4 Autumn Article 152008Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the21st CenturyRichard NortonRod ThorntonFollow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-reviewThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contactrepository.inquiries@usnwc.edu.Recommended CitationNorton, Richard and Thornton, Rod (2008) "Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the 21st Century," Naval War CollegeReview: Vol. 61 : No. 4 , Article 15.Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol61/iss4/15American Defense is much like the ex-tant body of research produced byCordesman over the last few decades. Itis filled with information that is in-tended to be comprehensive, even ency-clopedic. Yet this approach can have itsdrawbacks. The book’s subtitle prom-ises to discuss “the challenge of strategicoverstretch” and its chapters are orga-nized around ten specific challenges, yetthe author fails to offer a sustained ar-gument about how to grapple withthem. Instead, the chapters offerprogram-by-program vignettes,military service–by–military servicecomparisons, and agency-by-agency de-scriptions of difficulties. Within the vi-gnettes, comparisons, and descriptionsare piecemeal solutions—some ofwhich make an enormous amount ofsense, while others smack of improvisa-tion or are contradictory to diagnosesand solutions offered pages earlier.Evaluating the individual parts of somassive a work is difficult. Absent ex-pert knowledge of an extremely widerange of issues and programs, this re-viewer is left to seek out those modestareas of national security where he hassome competence or general insight.Here the news is largely positive.Cordesman’s discussions of U.S. Navyforce structure, policies, and programsseem largely sensible, even when hislanguage is somewhat intemperate. It ishard to argue with the author’s diagno-ses and solutions when he uses thewords of public officials and militaryofficers, not to mention the analyses ofseasoned analysts, to underpin his argu-ments. His account of military “trans-formation” is reasoned, although in myjudgment Cordesman may be a bit tooenamored of the promised benefits oftransformation and too hopeful that thenational security establishment canovercome what is perhaps the largestproblem with transformation: “It isbrutally clear that strategy and planningdocuments that are not integrated withforce planning and long-term budgetsbecome hollow wish lists or—at theminimum—more of a problem thanpart of the solution.”Like many defense experts, Cordesmanis not shy about offering recommenda-tions to fix what is wrong with U.S. na-tional security policy. In his finalchapter, he offers fourteen “majorchanges,” all of which are ambitious.Unsurprisingly, given the enormousscope of these recommendations,Cordesman offers few details about howthey might be implemented.PETER DOMBROWSKINaval War CollegeThornton, Rod. Asymmetric Warfare: Threat andResponse in the 21st Century. Hoboken, N.J.:Wiley, 2007. 256pp. $69.95Asymmetric warfare, although anythingbut new, is among the currentpolitical-military hot topics of the day.The success of al-Qa‘ida in striking theWorld Trade Center, and the difficul-ties encountered by the United Statesand its partner countries in achievingstability and security in Iraq and Af-ghanistan, has convinced some observ-ers that those who would wageasymmetric warfare against powerfulstates may now have the upper hand.Other analysts, less willing to go quiteso far, agree that asymmetry will be anotable facet of most military conflictsfor the foreseeable future.B O O K R E V I E W S 1 5 11Norton and Thornton: Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the 21st CenturyPublished by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2008Unfortunately, discussions of asymmet-ric warfare all too often devolve into ef-forts to push pet programs or ideas,attack or defend political leaders, andsubstitute emotion for understanding.Thankfully, Asymmetric Warfare is cutfrom a different cloth. Dr. Rod Thorn-ton, an authority on security issues atKing’s College London, has produced apractical and useful primer on this im-portant subject. In doing so, he also dis-pels several common misconceptions,including the ideas that asymmetricmeans unequal, and that asymmetricwarfare is solely a tool of the weak.While asymmetric warfare can be prac-ticed by any actor, it is the modern ter-rorist who creates the most concern.Thornton takes a close look at terroristsas adversaries and how “new” terroristsdiffer from their historical predecessors.He identifies three characteristics asparticularly important: an increased de-gree of fervor, an increased ability toimplement attacks, and an increasedability to cause mass casualties. The au-thor takes the time to explain why thesechanges have occurred and how theymight manifest themselves in futureattacks.Thorton does not overlook the relation-ship among terrorism and asymmetricwarfare and strategic communication.In addition, he explores how an asym-metric opponent would seek to win awar through attacks on infrastructureand the use of deception, electronicwarfare, and psychological operations.Each of these issues is dealt with insome detail.Asymmetric Warfare is not a perfectbook. A deeper discussion of historicalexamples of asymmetric warfare wouldhave been a powerful addition to thework. It may also be that Thorntonoverstates the vulnerabilities of some ofthe unmanned systems he examines.However, these flaws are minor at best.Asymmetric Warfare is a valuable addi-tion to current security-related litera-ture. It is especially useful for readersnew to the field who are seeking a co-gent and readable description of asym-metric warfare, its various facets andaspects, and potential methods thatmight be used to deal with asymmetricfoes.RICHARD NORTONNaval War CollegeKamphausen, Roy, and Andrew Scobell, eds.Right-Sizing the People’s Liberation Army: Explor-ing the Contours of China’s Military. Carlisle, Pa.:Army War College, 2007. 582pp. (Informationabout free copies can be obtained at www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs.)This edited volume combines high-levelinquiry into the larger purposes and di-mensions of People’s Liberation Army(PLA) reforms with fresh data that aredifficult to find elsewhere. Its overalltheme, the likely future dimensions andmissions of China’s military, is ad-dressed in contributions from leadingexperts in the field.The chapters, organized by service, aresolidly grounded in Chinese sources andknowledge of Chinese organizations. Ina characteristically sound overview ofChina’s national military strategy, DavidFinkelstein is scrupulous in his explana-tion of the relative authority of variousChinese military documents. EvanMedeiros assesses that while Chinese nu-clear doctrine has become increasinglysophisticated (while remaining opaqueto foreign analysts, particularly in the1 5 2 N A V A L W A R C O L L E G E R E V I E W2Naval War College Review, Vol. 61 [2008], No. 4, Art. 15https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol61/iss4/15

Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the 21st Century

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Asymmetric Warfare: Threat and Response in the 21st Century

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