Muddergoose
Verified Military
I was wondering. How much vetting/censorship monitoring is done on a book like this. Some of the things mentioned I can remember where NTK yet they are discussed, albeit, in minor detail. Bad guys read too.
"Killer Elite" book
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Brill
SOF Support
Not really following you on the question here.
Muddergoose
Verified Military
Sorry, I was pre coffee when typing earlier. There seems to be a lot of OPSEC info in the book. Are books like that cleared by the "secrets gods" before printed?
They should be.
1. They should be, per any NDAs which are signed.
2. Not everyone follows that process.
3. Some submit the book and then publish anyway, regardless of redacted material.
4. Others will muddy the waters. Say they work for Unit X, but material in the book also covers Unit Y or Company Z. Guys will submit to one of the 3 without the other two participating and then claim they could release the book. There was another case where an author submitted his book for review to a higher headquarters and his old unit didn't participate in the review process.
Clear as mud, right? The short answer is they should but you have to look at them on a case-by-case basis to see if they did the right thing.
Most of the time, the answer to the original question is "nothing." Guys write books to make money, following the law and keeping their word come secondary.
I think there is a problem with books in this genre right now that is propagated by both the author and the military. On the one hand, as was mentioned above, authors are trying to get their books out as fast as possible - consequences be damned. On the other, you have the military who is notorious in the author community for taking forever to clear a book, tying it up for months even years. How encouraging is that for an author to submit their work? Not very. So the ones who want to do the right thing often times are forced to say "ok, times up" and publish because they have to put food on the table after all. If a well connected, four star General is stonewalled for six months on his book… you can imagine what the average guy goes through.
So whats the solution? The military needs to establish guidelines for what books do or do not need to be submitted for approval. Then, they need to streamline the approval process, making it so that there are established (and reasonable) time hacks to have a book approved or disapproved based on length of book. Once that system is instituted, then there needs to be REAL consequences for authors who ignore the process.
So whats the solution? The military needs to establish guidelines for what books do or do not need to be submitted for approval. Then, they need to streamline the approval process, making it so that there are established (and reasonable) time hacks to have a book approved or disapproved based on length of book. Once that system is instituted, then there needs to be REAL consequences for authors who ignore the process.
Side note, I liked how in Robert Baer's book he just left the censored bits in but actually censored it rather than rewriting it.
I recall the UK SASR have something in place, an NDA or some such, hence no books coming out of there recently.
Mmm I recall something about that with them threatening people to be RTU if they didn't sign it. I understand it is basically a blanket "no books/publishing" rule IIRC.
It was after Andy McGrabb & Peter de la Billionaire published that it came in. Can't recall chapter & verse but it was similar to what you've outlined.
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Instead of writing books on operations or the generalized formation of the unit they were part of, they should write very loosely based fiction books .. No breech of PERSEC/OPSEC/INFOSEC and they still make money.. no one gets hurt..
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The statement reminds me of Gayle River's The Five Fingers, the first Vietnam based book I read in high school (mid 80s') and I was HOOKED on the genre. The internet is amazing, I can find an equal amount of folks claiming how they know that the story is true vs. those who laugh off the idea.
I get what your saying here… but I disagree only because if they are works of fiction than history is not being recorded. It is up to those who can string a sentence together to record history so that it is not forgotten. The "when" and "how" are the things that need to be taken into consideration when doing that though.
Muddergoose
Verified Military
One of the organizations I belong to asked some of us to sit with some of the old timers one-on-one at a reunion we had a few years back, to tell their stories so they could be published once it was declassified if they passed away before it was formally declassified. Based on clearances you held "back in the day", (and how much the suits overseeing the project liked you) we got paired up with an old timer in a closed room with nothing but a pad and pen, and basically let them ramble on about whatever they did and what they did. I found it odd but at the same time, pretty awesome that at least the secrets they held on to for 40 years wouldn't die with them. Once he finished telling his story, the "reviewer" took the pad and pen, and on the spot, red inked this and that, and handed it over to the other person who keeps it to this day. I heard some interesting things, some still surprisingly classified, but at least now there's a record of what this guy did, and he was so proud to tell it. Sadly, he died about 18 months ago, but at least at the peace of mind one day his family, and the public will know his contributions to our great nation.
