In his recent Congressional testimony, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Marine Lt. Gen. Vince Stewart provided a worldwide threat assessment that noted “A confluence of global political, military, social, and technological developments, which, taken in aggregate, have created security challenges more diverse and complex than those we have experienced in our lifetimes.”
This judgment runs directly counter to the arguments in a new book with a question as its title: A Dangerous World? The central theme of this anthology is that perceptions of the threats the United States faces are unrealistic or manifestly exaggerated. The contributors to this anthology are commendably consistent on these points, to a fault. They want the country and the Pentagon to confront real threats rather than preferred demons and warn the reader to be leery about accepting the “revealed wisdom” about the dangers the people of the United States face. In that regard, this book is a healthy (but not entirely convincing) exercise in challenging longstanding threat perceptions.
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