In this concise and penetrating study, Roger Barnett illuminates the effect of operational, organizational, legal, and moral constraints on the ability of the U.S. to use military force. As the tragic events of September 11 demonstrated, potential adversaries can take advantage of these limitations, thus spawning -asymmetrical warfare.- Barnett defines asymmetrical warfare as not simply a case of pitting one's strength against another's weakness but rather of taking the calculated risk to exploit an adversary's inability or unwillingness to prevent, or defend against, certain actions. For...

To provide readers with insights into how naval officers think about how to conduct naval warfare, retired naval officer and Naval War College professor Emeritus Roger Barnett opens the oceangoing service for inspection. He attributes the unstructured, at-sea environment with powerfully conditioning an officer's way of thinking, explaining that the watery setting forces them to be constantly alert, self-reliant, and willing to take risks. In characterizing the culture, he describes an expeditionary mindset, underwritten by history and nourished by experience that sets naval officers apart...