Book Review | Professional Courage: My Journey in Military Intelligence Through Peace, Crisis, and War
Author: Jack Leide, Major General, U.S. Army (Retired) | Reviewer: John B. Haseman, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
Professional Courage is a remarkable book by a remarkable man. Major General (Retired) Jack Leide's 33-year career in the U.S. Army spanned infantry, special forces, military intelligence, and Foreign Area Officer (FAO) assignments. He commanded airborne infantry companies in combat in the Dominican Republic and in Vietnam and served on the G-2 Staff at II Corps Headquarters at Long Binh. Dissatisfied with the intelligence he received in combat, he transferred to the Military Intelligence branch.
Upon return to the United States, Leide spent two years at the Special Research Detachment at the National Security Agency, where he was responsible for analysis and production of intelligence reports involving some of the most sensitive sources available to the intelligence community. During his second assignment in Vietnam, he served on the G-2 Staff, 101st Airborne Division, and commanded the division's 101st Military Intelligence Company.
While in Vietnam he applied for and was accepted into the FAO program as a China FAO. He then attended the Chinese Mandarin class at the Presidio of Monterey, then the Armed Forces Staff College, and later undertook advanced Chinese language training at the U.S. State Department school in Taichung, and later Taipei, Taiwan. He was the first (and as of publication date the only) American officer to attend the full Republic of China Command and General Staff College. He was next assigned to Hong Kong for three years as the Assistant Army Liaison Officer, U.S. Defense Liaison Office.
Before and after his "deep dip" into China-related assignments, he served at Fort Bragg at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and as G-2, 82nd Airborne Division. Later intelligence assignments included service at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), command of the 500th Military Intelligence Group in Japan, attendance at the National War College, and then as Director of Foreign Intelligence on the Army Staff.
He was promoted to brigadier general while serving in the Pentagon and learned he had been selected as Defense and Army Attaché to China. During his tour of duty in Beijing between 1988 and 1990 he directed eyes-on reporting about the Tiananmen Square crisis and was key to the successful evacuation of American citizens from China. DAO Beijing received the Director of Central Intelligence's Exceptional Collector Unit of the Year Award under his leadership for its involvement during the Tiananmen Square crisis.
Shortly afterwards General Norman Schwarzkopf personally requested him to be his J-2/ Director of Intelligence, U.S. Central Command. He served in that position through Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. He earned his second star. His final active-duty assignment was Deputy Director of DIA for Human Intelligence and Chief of the Defense Attaché Service.
Why all this detail about a man's military career? The answers are the keys to this book's amazing narrative. First is the litany of steadily higher and more difficult assignments, earned both by his work ethic and through the network of contacts he made at every stop. Second, no matter the job, he never hesitated to tell it like it was, despite difficult circumstances, to his seniors. His professional courage to speak truth to power, even if not what power wanted to hear, gained the respect of everyone he worked for, and with. Third and most importantly, through all of his difficult and high-level assignments he was a leader of people. He respected and cared deeply for and never forgot the people who lived with him in the mud and jungle of Vietnam and those who later on served with him through high-pressure, tension-packed assignments. Full disclosure: I have known Jack Leide for almost 40 years as a professional colleague, as my boss, and as a friend. I have seen how he managed pressure and deflected it away from his staff and subordinates. I benefited from his commitment to excellence and accountability. As one of his co-workers in Beijing observed, "I know the difference between commander and leader. You break through walls for a leader. I would break through walls for Jack Leide."
Speaking with friends a year or so ago, Jack observed with only some exaggeration that he got fired at least once a week by General Schwarzkopf, but always was re-hired within a couple hours, with a sincere apology. He said that it was Schwarzkopf's way to express unhappiness with the slowness of incoming intelligence about the enemy forces in preparation for the coming battle, and his concern for the morale and well-being of a key staff member. "I just told him he needed a bit more patience and it would be okay in time for the fight," Jack recalled. And, of course, it was. Jack absorbed that repeated pressure from Schwarzkopf but never passed it down to the hundreds of subordinates working around the clock to collect and analyze every scrap of information to prepare the battlefield as completely as possible.
Jack Leide has written, and written well, of his decades of service to this country; about the people who worked with, and for, him; and the challenges that the United States has navigated during his watch. This book is a great read; I found it difficult to put it down. The wealth of details and the depth of his knowledge, particularly about the complex aspects of the intelligence world, is breathtaking in its description. The chapters about tense times in Beijing and providing intelligence support for Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM are unparalleled descriptions about some of the most significant crises the U.S. has faced in recent years. This book is an important read for junior officers and for general officers alike, particularly to know and understand his keen insights on leadership of people (not things), and for the wealth of details about a lifetime of increasingly difficult and challenging assignments.
Jack was inducted into the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Attaché Service Hall of Fame in 1997. He is also a member of the U.S. Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
Professional Courage describes the man as well as the environments in which he lived and worked for more than three decades. Those fortunate to have worked with Jack Leide have never forgotten that experience. When you read this book you will understand why.
Author: Jack Leide, Major General, U.S. Army (Retired)
Reviewer: John B. Haseman, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
Publication Information:
Publisher: jaleide@aol.com, 2023
ISBN: 979-8-89109-353-9 (paperback)
ISBN: 979-8-89109-582-3 (hard cover)
ISBN: 979-8-89109-354-6 (ebook)