Most Americans consider detente -- the reduction of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union -- to be among the Nixon administration's most significant foreign policy successes. The diplomatic back channel that national security advisor Henry Kissinger established with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin became the most important method of achieving this thaw in the Cold War. Kissinger praised back channels for preventing leaks, streamlining communications, and circumventing what he perceived to be the US State Department's unresponsive and self-interested bureaucracy. Nixon and Kissinger's methods, however, were widely criticized by State Department officials left out of the loop and by an American press and public weary of executive branch prevarication and secrecy. Richard A. Moss's penetrating study documents and analyzes US-Soviet back channels from Nixon's inauguration through what has widely been heralded as the apex of detente, the May 1972 Moscow Summit. He traces the evolution of confidential-channel diplomacy and examines major flashpoints, including the 1970 crisis over Cienfuegos, Cuba, the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT), US dealings with China, deescalating tensions in Berlin, and the Vietnam War. Moss argues that while the back channels improved US-Soviet relations in the short term, the Nixon-Kissinger methods provided a poor foundation for lasting policy. Employing newly declassified documents, the complete record of the Kissinger-Dobrynin channel -- jointly compiled, translated, annotated, and published by the US State Department and the Russian Foreign Ministry -- as well as the Nixon tapes, Moss reveals the behind-the-scenes deliberations of Nixon, his advisers, and their Soviet counterparts. Although much has been written about detente, this is the first scholarly study that comprehensively assesses the central role of confidential diplomacy in shaping America's foreign policy during this critical era.

From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart. Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity. By putting us on personal terms with historic leaders in the maritime sphere he knows so well, James Stavridis gives us a compass that can help us navigate the story of our own lives, wherever that voyage takes us.

From one of the most admired admirals of his generation-and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO-comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world's most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path. From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power, Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world's oceans from the admiral's chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow. Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution. When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power, you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan's legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.

The Division Officer's Guide, Twelfth Edition, is a handbook for Junior Officers and Petty Officers of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard afloat, in the air, under the sea and ashore. Originally written in 1952 by CAPT John V. Noel Jr., and last revised in 2004, the book provides division officers with basic lessons of leadership, organization, administration, training, and discipline - essential elements for success in their key positions. It offers much useful information on individual readiness, the conduct of assessments and inspections, maintenance processes and responsibilities, and the preparation and methods of correspondence and officer and enlisted career planning. The lessons and themes are not limited to use in the sea services; they provide a foundation for success in both military and personal life. Learning and practicing division officer skills lays a foundation for future success, no matter the environment or occupation, including the highest levels of the military, government, and citizenship. This twelfth edition continues to evolve with our rapidly changing world. Terrorism has become an international security issue, men and women now serve alongside superbly in all of our ships at sea, and technology continues to change virtually every aspect of naval operations. Cyber tools such as web-based information, use of computer networks aboard ships, and the ability to post and share information on websites in both unclassified and secure environments continue to expand the reach of sea services but similarly provide vulnerability vectors that may be exploited if not protected. Over the next ten years, a division officer can expect to see the expanding importance of cyber tools, increased need for cooperation among nations operating in shared maritime areas, and more autonomous operations where commander's intent must be fully understood and executed should networked operations be unavailable. Combined Navy and Coast Guard assets such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and Fast Frigate (FF), the National Security Cutter, the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer (DDG), and the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) will enable highly networked operations, placing even greater emphasis on the importance of skilled and capable officers leading divisions at sea. Despite the technological advances in the tools available to leaders, a great constant remains-the direct personal impact that the division officer has on sailors each day. A division officer's fundamental task is to build the core elements of a winning team. Division Officer's Guide Twelfth Edition is written to reinforce the skills and competencies at the heart of this charge.

For the last several years Adm. James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader's Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader.Each of the works-novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, management publications-are summarized and the key leadership lessons extracted and presented. Whether individuals work their way through the entire list and read each book cover to cover, or read the summaries provided to determine which appeal to them most, The Leader's Bookshelf will provide a roadmap to better leadership. Highlighting the value of reading in both a philosophical and a practical sense, The Leader's Bookshelf provides sound advice on how to build an extensive library, lists other books worth reading to improve leadership skills, and analyzes how leaders use what they read to achieve their goals. An efficient way to sample some of literature's greatest works and to determine which ones can help individuals climb the ladder of success, The Leader's Bookshelf is for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to lead-whether in family life, professional endeavors, or within society and civic organizations.