Micah Zenko

@MicahZenko

Writer, researcher, red team consultant. Whitehead Senior Fellow at Chatham House. FP column: ; Books:

New York, NY
Joined December 2010
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    Dec 17

    Why it is wise (though uncomfortable) to assume organizational failures, and how to prevent them or minimize their impact.

    1 reply 4 retweets 14 likes
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  2. 53 minutes ago

    Mattis' enduring legacy won't be standing up to Trump, but how his needless secrecy disconnected US troops (and their missions) from US civilians.

    3 retweets 12 likes
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  3. 3 hours ago

    Sec. Mattis served honorably, but made many flawed policy judgments and shrouded the military in counter-productive secrecy.

    2 replies 12 retweets 28 likes
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  4. 18 hours ago

    Ace 1988 quote from Harley Davidson CEO: “For years, we tried to figure out why the Japanese were beating us so badly. First, we thought it was their culture. Then, we thought it was automation. Then, we thought it was dumping. Finally, we realized the problem was us, not them."

    5 retweets 20 likes
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  5. 18 hours ago

    Cool research into a bias seen in policymaking. Plunging-In Bias: “The act of starting to solve a problem before understanding it or even considering the best ways to address it.”

    1 reply 5 retweets 23 likes
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  6. 22 hours ago

    Unfortunately, Sec. Mattis decided 8 months ago that Americans shouldn't know these numbers, so he ordered they stopped being released.

    Worth taking another look at this map showing estimated US troops numbers in various Middle Eastern nations as of 2017
    18 replies 258 retweets 330 likes
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  7. Dec 25

    NYT feature on how US is used by Saudi coalition bombing Yemen. (These Obama officials only off by 178 weeks and counting.)

    2 replies 36 retweets 76 likes
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  8. Dec 24

    New study using county data show economic impact of Sherman's March; significantly reducing farm values and increasing inequality--impacts lasting to 1920.

    1 reply 8 retweets 20 likes
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  9. Retweeted
    Dec 24

    “We do our military and veterans a disservice by treating them all as comic book heroes and shirking onto them responsibility for policies that protect us from our elected officials.” — in :

    9 replies 123 retweets 357 likes
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  10. Dec 23

    Accelerating Mattis' departure by 58 days is terribly misguided. The transition time Mattis built-in was sufficient to nominate/confirm a replacement, and to prep for summits and Cong. posture hearings. This is needless chaos.

    I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!
    6 replies 22 retweets 46 likes
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  11. Dec 21

    Pentagon officials should learn from this and actually honor the troops by publicizing their essential roles and missions, answering clarifying questions, and releasing previously-available data. Or they can continue to reduce transparency and thus public understanding and trust.

    11 replies 42 retweets 182 likes
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  12. Dec 21

    Had the Pentagon instead clearly described the vital interests at stake, the missions US troops were uniquely suited to fulfill, and what were the long-term objectives, the deployment would've been more popular, and less politically easy for Trump to terminate.

    11 replies 29 retweets 106 likes
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  13. Dec 21

    Pentagon's decision to hide what troops were doing in Syria, refuse to articulate their objectives, and to hide troop data (in April) meant the public and Congress didn't know their missions or purpose. This collective ignorance gave Trump an immense political opening.

    27 replies 209 retweets 504 likes
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  14. Dec 21

    There are no red team units I found (and I asked) in Russian MOD or MFA, or in China's PLA or MFA. They both do adversarial modeling, but no ideational, divergent thinking red teaming. However, it is used by intel analytical services in both countries.

    Doing a little research on Red Teaming right now (with plenty of help from your book), and was wondering if you've ever come across any Russian govt. red teams/alt. analysis groups? Would appreciate any advice you have!
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  15. Dec 21

    A simple framework for envisioning organizational failures (to reduce the probability of them happening).

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  16. Dec 20

    Unpopular thoughts about Mattis: 1) He did more to reduce transparency, clarity, and basic knowledge about the US military than any previous SECDEF. 2) He evaded criticism or evaluation by Congress, media, and analysts, b/c he somehow "stood up" to Trump and sounded super-tough.

    95 replies 650 retweets 2,054 likes
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  17. Dec 20

    This is not a dissenting retirement letter if you've listened to Mattis. He always emphasized these same points, and often and openly disagreed with Trump.

    Defense Secretary James Mattis has resigned. Here’s the letter:
    5 retweets 16 likes
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  18. Dec 20

    This would've been a brave statement to send to CIA director in Jan. 1980. Poli sci profs could use this memo as a model of bureaucratic dissenting.

    1 reply 3 retweets 12 likes
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  19. Dec 20

    Wow. We are still living with these two pghs. From undated CIA options paper:

    2 replies 6 retweets 15 likes
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  20. Dec 20

    Awesome new State Dept History: "Foreign Relations of the US, 1977–1980, Afghanistan." This is Carter's response to the Soviet invasion. (Covert ops section starts on page 85.)

    3 replies 19 retweets 48 likes
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  21. Dec 20

    Sen. James Inhofe: “We live in the most dangerous world of my lifetime." He was born in 1934.

    1 reply 3 retweets 7 likes
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