Rise of the Mavericks
The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War
Philip C. Shackelford
Naval Institute Press, Publisher, Annapolis, Maryland, 2023, 248 pages
Book Review published on: July 5, 2024
Author Philip C. Shackelford’s Rise of the Mavericks: The U.S. Air Force Security Service and the Cold War is a book that gives an overview of the development of national security intelligence in the U.S. Air Force during World War I through the development of a National Security Agency (NSA). While the Air Force Security Service (AFSS) leaders believed independent communications intelligence was essential to successful air-atomic strategy, the Army and Navy saw things differently. The author identifies AFSS personnel as mavericks due to their resistance to control by the Armed Forces Security Agency and the NSA, then discusses the organization’s growth and challenges. Shackelford holds a master’s degree in history and focuses his academic research on Cold War history of the U.S. Air Force and the AFSS. The book is insightful for anyone interested in a better understanding of innovation and the challenges growing an organization.
Rise of the Mavericks chronicles the development of the AFSS by leaders wanting to maintain and grow their capability as a component of national defense. During the Cold War, rapid reliable information on the Soviet Union’s capabilities and intentions was essential to developing the Air Force strategy. The AFSS was meant to provide communications intelligence to the emerging Air Force comparable to the communication of the Army and Navy. The author identifies and discusses the Mavericks’ resistance to control by the AFSS and the NSA as essential for the identification of the Air Force as an element of national defense. The book leverages the Air Force’s strategy to gather its own communications intelligence as a vehicle to review an element in the history, and growth of the Air Force as one of the newest elements of national defense. It is an insightful piece of history for anyone interested in maintaining and growing their own capability.
Shackelford sets the stage for the intelligence revolution by talking about the depression of the 1920s and 1930s. American gross national production fell by half between 1929 and 1933 along with an 87 percent drop in business investment. He proposes Europe’s challenges were much greater with almost half of the population unemployed. He shares his belief that the Soviet Union’s agricultural policy spawned famine and cannibalism. The book proposes America’s technology and espionage mindset was poorly fitted for an international leadership role.
Shackelford is making a case for Air Force Mavericks being the agents needed for change on the AFSS. Jon Duschinsky and J. Stewart Black would agree that one person could be an agent for change.1 Jefferey Pfeffer, however, does not believe high levels of individual performance automatically aggregates to organizational performance.2 Simon Sinek believes that change starts with the word why, while Adm. William H. McRaven believes little things can change lives.3 Lastly, John Kotter says that change starts with a sense of urgency.4 It’s likely that these Mavericks had at least one if not all of these including the why, being the agent of change, individual performance, focus on little things, and/or a sense of urgency.
Next, Shackelford focuses on World War II as a time of growth for American military aviation, intelligence, Air Force attitudes toward independent operations, and creation and maturation of the Security Service. On the other hand, he contrasts the devastating effects of the Cold War causing organizations to streamline military operations, airborne interception becoming dangerous, ground stations replaced by direction finding antenna platforms, and the innermost parts of China simply too far away. During this time of streamlining military operations, Army intelligence officials were resistant to duplication of their efforts as part of a decentralized and understaffed communication’s intelligence structure. According to Shackelford, the Air Force was seen initially as a communications consumer versus a producer.
Shackelford believes the AFSS was a Cold War-era communications intelligence agency which focused on intelligence information to inform and support Air Force missions, and decisions. From 1956 to 1979, it was a period of expansion and contraction for communications intelligence. The year 1956 demonstrated the cryptologic community’s inability to deal with developing trouble spots. USS Pueblo demonstrated the need for tactical communication intelligence in 1968. The service cryptologic agencies downsized 92 percent in 1970 while the NSA maintained most of its organization. He concludes the manuscript with the recognition of broader electronic warfare responsibilities and redesignation of the U.S. AFSS as the Electronic Security Command.
Shackelford’s manuscript takes a strategic perspective of developing a command over half a century. He discusses the creation of the Electronic Security Command from 1929 to 1979. He covers a fifty-year span of growth in national intelligence for the AFSS. He also discusses other organizations involved in or influenced by the growth of electronic security.
Rise of the Mavericks is Philip Clayton Shackelford’s first manuscript. Shackelford is the library director at South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado, Arkansas. He holds master’s degrees in history, and in library and information science from Kent State University in Ohio. His academic research is focused on the Cold War history of the U.S. Air Force and the AFSS. He is the creator for the weekly podcast, The Modern Scholar and book reviewer for Library Journal. His manuscript is an insightful academic contribution to works on Air Force history, growth, and the transition to the Cold War.
The book Rise of the Mavericks leaves you with a feeling of admiration for the AFSS, and its Mavericks. It’s easier to take a position of admiration viewing these mavericks in hindsight of the war. The Army and Navy had valid concerns about the quality of information the AFSS was able to provide. While problem solving requires the use of quantitative and analytical tools to minimize the risk of unintended consequences, leaders generally disagree on the “right” answer or best solution for medium and ill-structured problems.5 Rise of the Mavericks outlines many events and the commitment it took to create the AFSS for those interested in pursuit of their recommended solution. This manuscript is recommended for individuals interested in innovation and growing their organization.
Notes
- J. Stewart Black, It Starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson FT Press, 2008); Jon Duschinsky et al., (me)volution: Change Begins with Me (Toronto: Hilborn Group, 2013).
- Jeffrey Pfeffer, “Fighting the War for Talent Is Hazardous to Your Organization’s Health,” Organizational Dynamics 29, no. 4 (2001): 248–59, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247142474_Fighting_the_War_for_Talent_is_Hazardous_to_Your_Organization's_Health.
- Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (London: Portfolio, 2011); William H. McRaven, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life … and Maybe the World (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2017).
- John P. Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” Harvard Business Review, accessed 5 July 2024, https://hbr.org/1995/05/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail-2.
- Field Manual 5-0, Problem Solving and Decision Making (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office, May 2022).
Book Review written by: Kathy Kim Strand, MEd, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas