Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 151

BOOK REVIEWS United States. Later, Frankum argues, ambassadors and President Kennedy himself inherited a relationship and evolving crisis that was likely beyond repair by 1961. This central argument is convincingly described and clearly supported through meticulous research. Another positive feature of Frankum’s work is his writing; he explains complex series of events in a narrative fashion that is both interesting and informative. There are several books on this murky but important set of years. Notable titles include Robert Scigliano’s South Vietnam: Nation Under Stress and Denis Warner’s The Last Confucian. Frankum’s effort is a positive addition to scholarship on this topic, and it positively benefits research on MAAG and the U.S. involvement in Vietnam prior to 1965. Capt. Nathaniel L. Moir, U.S. Army Reserve, Albany, N.Y. THE INVISIBLE SOLDIERS: How America Outsourced Our Security Ann Hagedorn, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2014, 320 pages A nn Hagedorn’s The Invisible Soldiers is a remarkable investigation into the ascent of private military security companies (PMSCs). She contends that global conflicts have given rise to corporate warriors operating in the shadows without public scrutiny, and PMSCs are taking over U.S. security responsibilities. Her argument is presented with passion and thoroughness. Hagedorn, an author and staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal, begins in London’s ultra-secretive Special Forces Club. We’re introduced to industry pioneers who have shaped global PMSCs—who developed the model for private security—and who held the interest of the United States. In the book, the advent of the U.S. Army’s Logistics Augmentation Program (LOGPAC) during the Reagan administration pushed the United States into the private security realm; LOGPAC was developed to bypass the Abrams Doctrine, which was conceived to prevent such a disconnect between the public and the military. Its inception opened the doors for corporations to MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2015 receive government contracts, effectively ushering in the PMSC era. Th