Potomac: 565 books

The Personnel Security Clearance System—the process by which the federal government incorporates individuals into secret national-security work—is flawed. After twenty-three years of federal service, Martha Louise Deutscher explores the current system and the amount of power afforded to the...

As the world has become increasingly digitally interconnected, military leaders and other actors are ditching symmetric power strategies in favor of cyberstrategies. Cyberpower enables actors to change actual economic outcomes without the massive resource investment required for military force deployments. Cashing...

Upon witnessing a series of outstanding (or awful) performances, a sports fan or announcer may wonder, What are the odds of that happening? In fact, statisticians have shown that, for the most part, athletic streaks occur about as often as would be expected by random chance; if one flipped a coin a thousand...

No group is quotedand misquotedmore often than Americas founders. When a political controversy heats up, the nations speechwriters, politicians, reporters, editorial writers, and talking heads try to influence the debate by quoting their words. Year in and year out, teachers and political buffs look...

Long a family-friendly tourist destination and educational mecca for students, Washington, DC, is immediately recognizable for its world-class museums and monuments riddled with symbolism. Washingtons other signature stamppoliticsattracts visitors of a different kind. Power players from around the globe...

Italy has always captivated the imagination of foreigners, attracted many to its shores, and contributed more than its share to world culture and progress, not to mention its delectable cuisine. A small country, it is about 116,000 square miles, or roughly less than half the size of Texas. But despite...

Personal writing can be risky for anyone, but for military veterans, especially those suffering from post-traumatic stress, sharing stories can trigger painful and disturbing flashbacks. Writing is also risky for the ego. It is one thing to write a military story, especially one based on authentic...

Logistics includes the planning and practice of moving stuffraw materials, tools, finished products, and even peoplefrom one place to another. It carried American settlers over the sparsely populated Great Plains to connect the East Coast to the West Coast and has underpinned our domestic prosperity...

In The Search for the Japanese Fleet, David W. Jourdan, one of the world’s experts in undersea exploration, reconstructs the critical role one submarine played in the Battle of Midway, considered to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific. In the direct line of fire during this battle was...

From abject poverty to undisputed political boss of Pennsylvania, Lincoln’s secretary of war, senator, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a founder of the Republican Party, Simon Cameron (1799–1889) was one of the nineteenth century’s most prominent political figures. In his...

Douglas Grindle provides a firsthand account of how the war in Afghanistan was won in a rural district south of Kandahar City and how the newly created peace slipped away when vital resources failed to materialize and the United States headed for the exit. By placing the reader at the heart...

No sport demands toughness more than professional football, and no sport celebrates it with as much joy, excitement, and pride. John Madden annually offers his picks of the top tough guys, and sick hits are shown repeatedly on jumbotrons nationwide and ESPNÆs Sportscenter. Anyone whoÆs ever watched...

Long before it became the slogan of the presidential campaign for Barack Obama, Dorothy Ferebee (1898–1980) lived by the motto YES, WE CAN. An African American obstetrician and civil rights activist from Washington DC, she was descended from lawyers, journalists, politicians, and a judge. At a time...

Technological failure results when one side in a conflict does not fully grasp the potential impact of known, or even familiar, weapons in the enemyÆs hands. In most cases, such failure resulted from higher officialsÆ ignorance or their total misunderstanding of the importance and relevance of such...