Relentless Strike

July 13, 2015
Naylor (Not a Good Day to Die), a journalist who specializes in covering special operations, has produced the most complete history to date of the most secret organization within the U.S. military: the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Given the organization’s super-secret status, much of Naylor’s engrossing material was gleaned from hundreds of interviews with former members. He traces the evolution of the organization, its tactics, and its missions, beginning with JSOC’s inauspicious conception in the wake of the failed 1979 Iran hostage rescue mission and ending in 2014 with the successful rescue of an American and a Danish aid worker abducted by Somali pirates. According to Naylor, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, JSOC’s mission set, size, and capabilities expanded significantly, to the point where it became “America’s premier weapon in the war against terrorism.” Over the course of the Iraq War, JSOC developed a sophisticated global intelligence capability that rivaled the CIA’s, and was linked to America’s elite commando units. Naylor’s narrative covers everything from briefings in the White House to SEAL firefights in the mountains of Afghanistan. He also describes the failures, rivalries, conflicts of personality, and arguments over strategy that are as characteristic of JSOC as its tactical excellence. Naylor’s powerful and informative history is essential to understanding America’s evolving military capability and the on-going war against global terrorism.

July 1, 2015
A history of the Joint Special Operations Command, one of the most elite and little-understood pieces of the American military. While most people know about Delta Force and SEAL Team 6, few have heard of their umbrella group, JSOC. The secret organization was first designed to rescue American captives during the Iran hostage crisis, and although the crisis was resolved before JSOC could unleash its elite units, the group grew exponentially over the next two decades. Naylor (Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, 2005) provides a whirlwind tour of the organization's many covert operations, from apprehending Manuel Noriega in Panama to hunting war criminals in the former Yugoslavia. But the author's primary interest is the war on terror, beginning with 9/11. Not only does he characterize JSOC as the allied forces' most essential wing, but he also describes the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as a major opportunity for American task forces. As Lt. Col. Pete Blaber put it, "At this point, the staff of our higher headquarters was ready to approve just about anything we brought to them-and they did." Naylor delivers an unquestionably comprehensive history, but the prose sometimes drowns in names, dates, and clinical anecdotes. Occasionally, the author provides vivid visual descriptions, but most of the book is devoid of human faces. The prose is written in emotionless Army-speak, and many of Naylor's sources spoke, as can be expected in such a book, on condition of anonymity. As one nameless official describes JSOC, "It was so, so top secret that it was extremely difficult to do our job." In the prologue, the author admits that this secrecy slowed his research. His information is strong, but his story is monotonous, and the final chapter dully peters out.Packed with anecdotes that will appeal to dedicated military buffs, but the encyclopedic prose will lose average readers.

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July 1, 2015

All nations have secrets, and their militaries doubly so. The operations of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) represents one of the most secretive U.S. military units. Formed in 1980 after President Jimmy Carter's failed effort to rescue the Iran hostages, JSOC has developed into a highly efficient antiterrorist organization nestled inside the complex U.S. military command. Within JSOC are some of the most storied special ops groups including Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, and other top-secret counterterrorism forces. For such a concealed topic, it's remarkable how much information is available, and Naylor (Not a Good Day To Die) appears to have used them all. Off-the-record interviews with current members of these groups add impressive detail. Naylor knows his subject well, especially the recent American military involvement in Afghanistan, and has a sure handle on the acronym-filled nature of the contemporary American military. Having been a reporter for Army Times, the author provides a valuable synthesis of the secret organization that sponsored the killing of Osama bin Laden. VERDICT A smoothly penned and thoroughly researched account of an important military asset in the ongoing U.S. war against terrorism.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

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