Military Books - Military Times

Former Joint Chiefs chair’s book to examine his tenure

Retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is working on a book he says will offer a rare inside look at the highest levels of the U.S. government in the post-Sept. 11 world.

But Myers says that while the book will run counter to “conventional wisdom,” those hoping for a “tell-all” tome will be disappointed.

Myers became chairman Oct. 1, 2001, just three weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, and served in that position until his retirement in September 2005 — a tenure he says was “defined by 9/11.”

The retired general said he intends the book to shed new light on critical national security decisions during that period, even for readers who have paid close attention to current events.

In addition to providing “a better understanding of the so-called ‘Long War’ that we’re engaged in,” Myers said the book will provide new insights into the relationships between the senior military and civilian leaders during his tenure as chief.

“It’s going to be quite a bit about those relationships,” he said. “There’s a lot of so-called conventional wisdom out there that I personally don’t think is very well researched, so this will be an opportunity to present another perspective.”

This conventional wisdom had been influenced by authors “who have not had access to the levels that I’ve had access to,” Myers said. He cited the widely-held notion that then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “didn’t listen to his military advisors” as an example of the sort of conventional wisdom his book would “swim against.”

“There have been books written around and about that, and I’ll address that squarely in my book,” Myers said.

He acknowledged that accurately relating the inner workings of the highest levels of the U.S. national security hierarchy without betraying confidences would present him with “a dilemma.”

“I worry about how to describe this in ways that are both accurate and fair ... it’s something I think about every day. But ... there are ways to do that. There are ways to explain this in a way that certainly doesn’t talk badly about any of the folks we’re going to be talking about.”

Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va., is skeptical that Myers — not known for being outspoken — will be able to reconcile the demands of the marketplace with his own temperament.

“On the one hand, you have you have the problem of violating confidences and personal loyalties,” Thompson said. “On the other, you have the challenge of making the book readable to a normal consumer, and the two forces push you in opposite directions.

“There’s no question that Gen. Myers has light to shed, but whether his personality and his professional interests will permit him to do so is another matter.”

Myers will also face a challenge persuading the public of the veracity of his version of events, Thompson said. “Myers was the quintessential team player, and since the team he was on has not been doing so well, there will be a tendency to view whatever he writes as an apologia,” Thompson said.

The book will not focus exclusively on events in the past, but also policy recommendations, Myers said. “There’s going to be some forward-looking aspects to it too, because some things ... need to change and I’m going to cover a couple of those in the book,” he said.

Myers is writing the book — no working title yet — with co-author Malcolm McConnell. It will be published by Threshold Editions, a conservative imprint of Pocket Books, part of the Simon and Schuster empire.

The book, which commanded a “six-figure” advance and have a “six-figure” print run, will be published in spring 2009, said Anthony Ziccardi, vice president and deputy publisher of Pocket Books.

Myers said he insisted that the book be published after the 2008 elections.

“I want it to be as apolitical as possible, and I figured anything coming out before the elections would be actually politicized by both sides,” he said.