The War Planners by Andrew Watts

I think we are all aware that somewhere in the bowels of the Pentagon is an office whose sole responsibility is to plan out war scenarios that the US may encounter. Who will attack, how will they attack, how will the US respond, how many might be killed. What’s the potential outcome.

The CIA thinks it has uncovered a Chinese plot to attack the US. A gradual shift of leadership from more civilian leaders is giving way to former military as heads of nearly all departments. Some movements by a few of these new guard have instituted actions that have raised the eyebrows of CIA analysts. All signs point to something happening in the next 12-18 months. The decision is made to go outside the box and recruit a whole new cadre of experts from a multitude of fields, isolate them on a south Pacific island and let them try to figure out the most likely scenarios that the Chinese might put in play.

This group works out a complicated strategy that involves massive Chinese hacking, Wall Street manipulation, and distracting Washington and the American public with what looks like hostile action by Iran against American children.

The group leader of this CIA menagerie is lead by Lena Chou. A ruthless operative of Chinese descent. She has successfully cajoled or kidnapped the experts to work together to dream up the plan for attack and then how to defend such an attack. Most go along willingly. Others less so.

From what I’ve seen, this is part 1 of 2 currently out now, but I’ve seen that this series might end up being five in total. Found out about this from Facebook ads and got the eBook for free. The author is an Annapolis grad and former Naval officer and helicopter pilot. The book has the feel of being written by someone with considerable experience in the topic. If I had a question, it would be why did all these people blindly accept going on this planning mission? Seems like the Pentagon would already have them all contracted as consultants for just this purpose and many would already know each other. I had one other question, but it would reveal too much, so I’ll have to keep it to myself.

If I were the type to assign a star rating, I’d give it a 3.5 stars. Good, but not great. Good enough to venture into book #2, The War Stage.

East Coast Don