What the Byzantines Can Teach Us about Our National Security

American Thinker ^ | March 06, 2010 | Ishmael Jones

[neverdem]

The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire

by Edward N. Luttwak

Belknap Harvard, 498 pp.

Civilization in the city of Rome was extinguished by the year 476, but scholars today recognize that the Roman Empire continued to thrive in its eastern capital of Constantinople, in what we call the Byzantine Empire. As Edward Luttwak notes, the Byzantines did not use the word "Byzantine." They called themselves Romans, and their enemies called them Romans as well. The Byzantine Empire carried on Roman traditions of civilization, commerce, law, and education for nearly a thousand years until they met a heroic end in the Muslim conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

In his fascinating book, the product of 25 years of research, Edward Luttwak describes the Grand Strategy that allowed the Byzantine civilization to survive so long against many of history's fiercest enemies. A partial list of Byzantine enemies includes successive waves of Huns, Avars, and Mongols from the steppe; Slavs and Viking Russians from the north; Persians and Arab and Turkic Muslims from the east and south; and "light-haired peoples": Franks, Goths, and Lombards from the west. 

Although Byzantium was an extension of the Roman Empire, their grand strategies were significantly different. The Byzantines realized that they could not annihilate enemies as the Romans had done, because to destroy an enemy exhausted Byzantine forces and opened the way for the next wave of invaders. As we have learned with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the destruction of a single enemy does not mean the end of all enemies. "The genius of Byzantine grand strategy was to turn the very multiplicity of enemies to advantage, by employing diplomacy, deception, payoffs, and religious conversion to induce them to fight one another instead of fighting the empire," Luttwak writes.  

Like the Byzantines, Americans do not wish to fight war by attrition. The supply of young jihadis, for example, is potentially unlimited. They are too numerous and easily replaced. On our side, we have no expendable soldiers. We have much in common with the Byzantines -- they were among the earliest to question war as a valid human undertaking, as we do today.

We need knowledge and strategy to defeat our enemies, and an essential element is good intelligence work. Of particular interest is Luttwak's analysis of Byzantine intelligence and its methods, which can be used to improve our own intelligence work and thus protect our own great civilization.

Luttwak describes the way Byzantine spies were escorted to the frontiers by scouting parties. The spies then made their way to foreign capitals, often as merchants, in what we would call "commercial cover" today. The spies lived and worked within enemy territory.  By using messengers, they were able to communicate information back to Constantinople and to remain in place in foreign countries, continuing to collect information.

Having spies living and working within enemy territory is essential. We don't do this now -- more than 90% of our CIA officers live and work entirely within the United States, and most of the remainder are within U.S. embassies. There is a general understanding among intelligence officers and within the Senate and House intelligence committees that we need to move more of our officers to foreign assignments, outside of embassies. Indeed, more than $3 billion was spent after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to get more CIA officers overseas in commercial covers, but the endeavor has so far proven impossible. No such additional, effective officers have been assigned overseas.

To survive like the Byzantines, we need to get our spies into foreign countries. The entire focus of Byzantine espionage was outward, placing spies at the sources of information in foreign lands.

The Byzantines had no fixed network of diplomatic missions, largely because the long distances between capitals made fixed posts impractical. The job of a diplomat in Byzantium was perilous because travel to a foreign warlord's capital meant a long journey through dangerous territory. A round trip to China took three years. Byzantine spies were adventurers, sent to bring back the needed information, not to sit behind desks. The Byzantines were fortunate not to have embassy installations. With our system today, those officers we do send to foreign countries usually serve within fortified embassy compounds, which inhibits their access to intelligence. Byzantine intelligence deployed almost all of its people in foreign countries and outside embassies; American intelligence deploys almost none of its people in this way.

The Byzantines had good spies, but no intelligence bureaucracy at all. Officials involved in the management of espionage performed these functions along with other duties. They never had a bureaucratic hierarchy of intelligence and never thought to create one. In America, we've had an intelligence bureaucracy only since the CIA's creation in 1947. We need spies, but we don't need an intelligence bureaucracy.

(The Byzantines had bureaucrats, of course, just not in intelligence. The taxes levied on the population to support government were heavy. Luttwak points out that an advantage the Muslims had in their conquest of North Africa and the Levant was that they had no bureaucrats to support back in their austere capitals of Mecca and Medina. Thus their tax demands were lower than the Byzantines'. Surrendering to the Muslims often meant, at least initially, a lower tax burden.)

The Byzantines' intelligence work was excellent. They didn't shy away from subverting even the most devout Muslims. If the domination of Islam is inevitable, reasoned some of their recruited sources, then what does it matter if I provide intelligence to the Byzantines? The Byzantines had a can-do attitude and knew what a little gold could do to subvert even the most outwardly ideological opponents. We need that can-do attitude in the CIA. Often, the biggest obstacle to our CIA officers' approaches to potential sources is that CIA Headquarters blocks the approach, saying it can't be done. Yet throughout my career, I was always pleasantly surprised at how quickly a few bucks converted ideologues to our cause.

The Byzantines were skilled in the use of subversion. A Byzantine technique while raiding enemy territory was to refrain from burning or plundering the estates of certain prominent men, and of them alone, to arouse suspicion and discord.

The Byzantines were expert at dividing their enemies and encouraging simmering ethnic divisions. The steppe tribes, such as the Huns, began in central Asia as small tribes and grew through ethnogenesis, a process of conquering and then absorbing other cultures, so that their military force at its height was composed of many ethnic groups. Subversion can cause a reversal of this process by splitting these enemies back into their parts, awakening ethnic tensions with the help of bribery, alliances, and persuasion.

The Byzantines used Christianity to convert and create allies. We create allies through conversion to our democracy and the ideals of our Constitution. The Byzantines used icons and the splendor of Constantinople; we have the vitality of our economy, the splendor of our cities, and the promise of opportunity. The Byzantines' manipulation of the craving of foreign chieftains for titles and flattering and giving gifts to foreign targets are something we understand -- these things are in our intelligence manuals, too -- but we just need to get out and do them. 

The Byzantines may have hated their enemies, but they sought to understand them and to learn their languages. Indeed, the early history of many cultures, such as the Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Moravians, Hungarians, and Serbs, is known to us only through Byzantine texts. The Byzantine manual Strategikon of Maurikios shows this intense interest in understanding other cultures. Its descriptions are often appropriate today; the Western light-haired peoples are "bold and undaunted in battle. Daring and impetuous as they are, they consider any timidity and even a short retreat as a disgrace." These are qualities, as Luttwak points out, that give strength, but also tactical limitations. The Strategikon describes the Persians as a people who obey their rulers out of fear. Its comments on the hardiness of Russian warriors sound like a description of 20^th-century Russian soldiers. Luttwak observes that powerful nations often disdain the study of their perceived inferiors, leading to events such as Napoleon's underestimation of the Tsar's army of serfs and drunken officers in 1812.

We need to develop this intense interest in the cultures and languages of our adversaries. Most of the CIA people involved in the pursuit of bin Laden prior to 9/11 had no knowledge of Arabic or Arab culture and no interest in learning. CIA employees are smart and talented, but advancement is achieved largely through relationships formed with colleagues within U.S. government buildings. English is the only language necessary. Anyone who had gone out to foreign lands to hunt bin Laden would have returned years later, unknown to anyone at Headquarters and unpromotable.

A later Byzantine manual, the Strategikon of Kekaumenos, likely written at a time of catastrophic decline in the empire, offers advice that I find chillingly familiar: that a general should avoid blame for being either too timid or too audacious and conduct minor operations that only appear to be risky in order to build the his reputation without actually taking much risk. This manual's advice suggests the empire's fate is less important than the individual's personal success. The tone of this manual must certainly reflect a gloomy period of decline and decay in the empire's history. It reminds me of the kind of advice senior CIA officers give their trusted protégés today: Look busy, but take no risk. Look at any CIA operation in the press, from the Joe Wilson visit to Niger to the Abu Omar rendition, and ask yourself: Was this operation simply designed to look busy, without taking any real risk?

Edward Luttwak shows the understanding of a practical military tactician and strategist in his exploration of cavalry tactics, the adaptation of the Huns' mounted archery, the compound reflex bow (which was held together by animal bone glues and powered by dried tendons), the impact of intensive military training, and the importance of speed, deception, and maneuver.

The use of "Byzantine" as an adjective, referring to dysfunctional bureaucratic scheming, will surely change as people realize that the Byzantines in fact were highly effective. I will no longer use the word to describe our broken intelligence bureaucracy because the Byzantines gathered intelligence brilliantly.

Americans have a superb military. Colleagues of mine from my early days in the Marine Corps, men who are today generals and colonels, read Luttwak's books. American strategic weakness is not to be found in its military, but in its intelligence bureaucracy, and it is in this component of grand strategy that I find Luttwak's scholarship essential.

 Ishmael Jones, a former Marine officer and a former deep cover CIA officer, is the author of The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture.

[rmlew]

The Byzantines did pretty well until the battle of Manzikert where they held the Seljulks at a draw, but then retreated in civil war. It was political infighting that killed the Eastern Roman Empire.

[stripes1776]

The Byzantines did pretty well until the battle of Manzikert where they held the Seljulks at a draw, but then retreated in civil war. It was political infighting that killed the Eastern Roman Empire.

The battle of Manzikert was in 1071. By that time the Byzantine Empire has lost all of western Europe, all of northern Africa, and most of the Middle East. It occupied only the Balkan peninsula and Asia minor. It had lost about 80% of its former territory. I would not call losing 80% of your empire doing pretty well.

[rmlew]

The battle of Manzikert was in 1071. By that time the Byzantine Empire has lost all of western Europe, all of northern Africa, and most of the Middle East. It occupied only the Balkan peninsula and Asia minor. It had lost about 80% of its former territory. I would not call losing 80% of your empire doing pretty well.
The Eastern Roman Empire never held Western Europe, that was the imperium of the Western Roman Empire It did occupy parts of Italy.

[stripes1776]

The Eastern Roman Empire never held Western Europe, that was the imperium of the Western Roman Empire It did occupy parts of Italy.

The capital was moved from Rome to Constantinople in the 4th century. Constantinople was the imperial capital of the entire Roman Empire.

[rmlew]

The capital was moved from Rome to Constantinople in the 4th century. Constantinople was the imperial capital of the entire Roman Empire.
Absolutely not. The empire was administratively split by Diocletian in the 3rd Century CE. Theodosius was the last empire of a unified Roman Empire and it irrevocable split in 395 CE.

[stripes1776]

Absolutely not. The empire was administratively split by Diocletian in the 3rd Century CE. Theodosius was the last empire of a unified Roman Empire and it irrevocable split in 395 CE.

Theodosius was not the last emperor of a united Roman empire. You are omitting Constantine and Constantius II and Julian the Apostate.

Constantine defeated all of his rivals and united all of the Roman Empire under his single rule. He then moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, naming it after himself. Constantinople was the imperial capital of the entire Roman Empire under the sole imperium of Constantine. After Constatine's death the imperium passed to Constantinius II, and after Constantinius II to Julian the Apostate. After Julian came Valentinian. It was Valentinian who set up his brother Valens as coruler.

The weakness of Constantinople became evident fairly soon after the death of Constantine, sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

[rmlew]

Theodosius died in 395 CE. The YOu are confusing him with Diocletian.

[stripes1776]

Theodosius died in 395 CE. The YOu are confusing him with Diocletian.

That would be 395 A.D. The empire was divided before Diocletian during the reign of Velentinian who proceeded Theodosius.

The point is that Constantine, Constantius II, and Julian the Apostate ruled as sole emperors from Constantinople, the imperial capital.

[Squantos]

Going to have to go get this mans books..........looks like a good read.

As to such as Luttwak describes the way Byzantine spies were escorted to the frontiers by scouting parties.

The blue badges are getting a little more aggressive per se in that arena.

Thanks Movemout for the ping !

[Squantos]

Going to have to go get this mans books..........looks like a good read.

As to such as Luttwak describes the way Byzantine spies were escorted to the frontiers by scouting parties.

The blue badges are getting a little more aggressive per se in that arena.

Thanks Movemout for the ping !

[Squantos]

Going to have to go get this mans books..........looks like a good read.

As to such as Luttwak describes the way Byzantine spies were escorted to the frontiers by scouting parties.

The blue badges are getting a little more aggressive per se in that arena.

Thanks Movemout for the ping !

[Squantos]

Going to have to go get this mans books..........looks like a good read.

As to such as Luttwak describes the way Byzantine spies were escorted to the frontiers by scouting parties.

The blue badges are getting a little more aggressive per se in that arena.

Thanks Movemout for the ping !

[Cindy]

Note: This is a very small sampler of what I have looked at recently ON THE INTERNET:

FOX NEWS.com: "U.S. AWARDING BILLIONS TO FIRMS VIOLATION IRAN SANCTIONS" (March 7, 2010) (Read More...)

THE MEMRI BLOG.org ("Source: ILNA (Iran), March 7, 2010"): "IRAN LAUNCHES A NEW CRUISE MISSILE PRODUCTION LINE" (Note: Photo included.) (Posted March 7, 2010) (Read More...)

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WASHINGTON POST.com (AP): Rotterdam, Netherlands - "NETHERLANDS TERROR SUSPECT FIGHTS U.S. EXTRADITION" (SNIPPET: "Mohamud Said Omar, 44, is suspected of providing money to the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab that was used to buy guns. Around 20 youths of Somali descent are believed to have traveled to Somalia from Minnesota since 2007 to help the group, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida.") (February 22, 2010, 12:23 pm) (Read More...)

SHIMRON LETTERS - blog: Minneapolis: "MOHAMUD SAID OMAR IS THE MINNESOTA SOMALIA ARRESTED IN THE NETHERLANDS" (November 13, 2009) (Read More...)

YNET NEWS.com: "IRAN SAYS WILL BUILD 2 NUCLEAR FACILITIES IN MOUNTAINS" by Dudi Cohen (Published February 22, 2010, 10:43/Israel News) (Read More...)

ISNA.ir - English - News Code: 8812-01743: Tehran - "Iran to declare good news on cetrifuges to be used in new sites: AEOI" (SNIPPET: "Iranian ministers during a meeting held in late December decided that the AEOI should within two months start construction of five enrichment sites whose places have been found across the country. The ministers also agreed that the organization offers suitable locations for the other five sites." SNIPPET: "He also said Iran is to use new centrifuges in the two new sites.") (February 22, 2010)

THE MEMRI BLOG.org ("Source: IRNA (Iran), February 20, 2010"): "IRAN: WE CAN PREPARE OUR 20% NUCLEAR FUEL FOR USE IN TEHRAN REACTOR" (SNIPPET: "He added that the process of preparing nuclear fuel for shaping into rods or discs already began one year ago at the conversion facility in Esfahan.") (February 21, 2010) (Read More...)

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INTERNET HAGANAH.com: "THREE WEBSITES OF HAMAS KNOW BY ISRAEL TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH HAMAS OPERATIVES IN THE UK" (February 23, 2010) (Read More...)

Israel.INTERNET HAGANAH.com: "BRITAIN AS A HUB OF HAMAS ACTIVISM" (SNIPPET: "File under 'dirty little secrets' the fact that Britain has for years allowed Hamas to use its territory as a base of operations.") (February 21, 2010) (Read More...)

TERRORISM-INFO.org.il - INTELLIGENCE AND TERRORISM INFORMATION CENTER: "HAMAS CONTINUES INITIATING ANTI-ISRAELI ACTIVITIES IN EUROPE: Muhammad Kazem Sawalha is a Hamas activist living in Britain who in the past was involved in operational activities in Judea and Samaria. He is personally involved in preparations to dispatch another aid convoy to the Gaza Strip by sea to confront Israel." (January 29, 2010) (Read More...)

OSAC.gov - Consular Affairs Bulletins - Report: "Warden Message: MEXICO VIOLENCE AVOID REYNOSA, NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS" (February 24, 2010) (Read More...)

TRAVEL.STATE.GOV - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs - TRAVEL ALERT: "MEXICO - SECURITY" (Read More...)

Link (Read More...)

DHS.gov - News Release: "Secretary Napolitano and Mexican Secretary of Public Safety Genaro Garcia Luna Sign Declaration of Principles on Cooperative Efforts to Secure the U.S.-Mexico Border and Combat Transnational Threats" (February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

HOEKSTRA.House.gov: Washington - "HOEKSTRA PRESSES CALL FOR 'IRAN RED TEAM' AFTER NEW IAEA REPORT ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM" (February 19, 2010) (Read More...)

HOEKSTRA.House.gov: Washington - "HOEKSTRA CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT RED TEAM ON IRAN NUCLEAR ISSUE" (October 6, 2009) (Read More...)

YNET NEWS.com (REUTERS): "IAEA: IRAN MAY BE WORKING ON NUCLEAR WARHEAD" (Published February 18, 2010, 20:40/Israel News) (Read More...)

IAEA.org: "IAEA AND IRAN" (Read More...)

EXAMINER.com: "RADICAL 'MUSLIM SISTERHOOD' UNCOVERED IN EGYPT" by Jim Kouri (SNIPPET: "A special women's unit within the banned radical group Muslim Brotherhood is operating in Egypt and possibly other Arab nations, according to a counterterrorism report obtained by the Terrorism Committee of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.") (February 19, 2010) (Read More...)

JIHAD WATCH.org (TIME.com, March 1, 2010 Issue): "'There's no longer a serious risk that southern Somalia could become a jihadi operational deployment facility. It already is."" (Posted February 19, 2010) (Read More...)

JIHAD WATCH.org (AP): "'We will attack them once we unite the Somali Holy fighters, then we will unite them with our brothers in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Chechnya to help them in their war against the infidels'" (February 13, 2010) (Read More...)

INTERNET HAGANAH.com: "*THE* WARNING" (SNIPPET: "This raises the question - who is the Faloja forum user called "afghani" and how is it that *he* knew about the capture of al-Eidan? One thing I can tell you is that identity has been active for a considerable length of time.") (February 23, 2010) (Read More...)

DEFENSE.gov (AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE): Washington - "CAPTURE OF NO. 2 TALIBAN LEADER CALLED 'SIGNIFICANT WIN'" by John J. Kruzel (SNIPPET: "...Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar...") (February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

Travel.State.Gov - UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Bureau of Consular Affairs - TRAVEL WARNING: "SAUDI ARABIA" (February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

FOX NEWS.com: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - "Exclusive: FORMER GITMO PRISONER, RAHABILITATED IN SAUDI ARABIA, MAY SOON BE RELEASED" by Judith Miller (SNIPPET: "To American officers at Guantanamo Bay, Ahmed Zaid Salem Zuhair was inmate No. 669 -- a hardcore, veteran Muslim terrorist suspected of having killed an American in Bosnia. But here in Saudi Arabia, he is a "beneficiary," a former religious deviant who, having learned the true meaning of Islam, has been rehabilitated. Repatriated from Guantanamo in mid-2009, Zuhair, 45...") (February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

Blogs.CBN.com - STAKELBECK ON TERROR: U.S. DESIGNATED GLOBAL TERRORIST Sits Down With Stakelbeck on Terror" [SAAD AL-FAQIH] (February 18, 2010, 4:58 pm) (SNIPPET: "As we got up to leave, I asked him how he saw the conflict between the West and the Muslim world playing out over the next few years. "No matter what Muslim leaders do, there will be more friction with the West--regardless of al-Qaeda," he told me. "There will be more confrontation between the West and Muslims, with attacks even bigger than in 2001." I exited al-Faqih's home a bit unnerved by that last comment. And thinking not so much about what he told me that afternoon as what he didn't.") (February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

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FOX NEWS.com: "CYBERATTACKS REPORTEDLY TRACED TO COMPUTERS IN CHINESE SCHOOLS" (Updated February 18, 2010) (Read More...)

WORLD TRIBUNE.com (Special from Geostrategy-Direct.com): Washington - "SYRIA CULTIVATING STRATEGIC TIES WITH VENEZUELA" (SNIPPET: "Western intelligence sources said Venezuela has become a key way-station for Iranian weapons deliveries to Hizbullah and Syria.") (February 17, 2010) (Read More...)

THE MEMRI BLOG.org ("Source: Fars, Iran, February 16, 2010"): "AHMADINEJAD WARNS OF IRAN'S CRUSHING RESPONSE TO NEW SANCTIONS" (Posted February 16, 2010) (Read More...)

THE MEMRI BLOG.org ("Source: Fars, Iran, February 16, 2010"): "IRAN TESTS NEW GENERATION OF CENTRIFUGES" (Posted February 16, 2010) (Read More...)

MEMRI.org - Special Dispatch 2810: "CHILD PREACHER DELIVERS A SPEECH ON CHILDREN'S LOVE OF MARYRDOM ON EGYPTIAN TV: 'My Mother Has Presented Me as a Gift to Allah This Year'" (SNIPPET: "In the program, Abd Al-Fattah Marwan -- himself a child -- recounts that the boy smiled in his sleep when he dreamt that he would be martyred the next day.") (February 16, 2010) (Note: Videos included.) (Read More...)

FOX NEWS.com: "AL QAEDA LOOKING TO RECRUIT ENGLISH SPEAKERS, WOMEN" (SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda in Yemen is actively recruiting English-speaking individuals, intelligence officials told Fox News on Monday, saying that investigators are looking for people who are more like Americans, having been born in the United States or Canada." SNIPPET: "Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is considered the top "talent spotter." He is tied to three of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, the Fort Hood shooting and Flight 253, which carried Abdulmutallab.") (Updated February 15, 2010) (Read More...)

WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "U.S. HUNTS FOR ENGLISH-SPEAKING BOMBERS" by Eli Lake (SNIPPET: "U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber, revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen.") (February 15, 2010) (Read More...)

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!@#$% (February 14, 2010)

WHITEHOUSE.gov: "Briefing Room" (Read More...)

WHITEHOUSE.gov: "Issues" (Read More...)

WHITEHOUSE.gov: "Presidential Actions" (Note: Includes Executive Orders, Proclamations, & Memos) (Read More...)

[Cindy]

Correcting top link: “...violating Iran sanctions.”

[Seadog Bytes]