cross-referenced news and research resources about
journalist and author Thomas E. Ricks
Thomas E. Ricks (born September 25, 1955) writes on defense topics. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. He writes a blog at ForeignPolicy.com and is a member of Center for a New American Security, a defense policy think tank.
He lectures widely to the military and is a member of Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. He has reported on military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ricks is author of the bestselling Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq, its follow-up The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, Making the Corps, The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today,and the novel A Soldier's Duty.
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Thomas E. Ricks
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updated Tue. March 12, 2024
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Task & Purpose
April 2, 2018
Get our most popular stories sent to your inbox. Also sign me up for Hirepurpose, a veteran's shortcut to the hiring manager. Yes, I Want Access! No Thanks. Tom Ricks has covered the U.S. military for several decades and is the author of six books, most recently Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom.
The National Interest Online (blog)
April 1, 2018
As for the United States, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the authors (who are not Army employees—one is at the Center for Naval Analyses, and the other is at the Kennan Institute) conclude “it is certainly a defeat for those who opposed the ... This article by Tom Ricks originally appeared at Task & Purpose.
Task & Purpose
March 26, 2018
In an article about personnel policy, retired Navy Capt. John Cordle offers one of the concise statements I've ever seen about the subject of military personnel policies: Manning math is simple. If I want a sailor in a seat 24/7, I need three humans. If I want to account for training and transit, illness, and attrition,Ãâà...
The Intercept
March 26, 2018
As Tom Ricks, a well-regarded military reporter, has written, “To a shocking degree, the Army's leadership ranks have become populated by mediocre officers. … Ironically, our generals have grown worse as they have been lionized more and more by a society now reflexively deferential to the military.”.
Task & Purpose
March 23, 2018
Small warships don't just carry out missions, notes retired Navy Capt. Wayne Hughes, author of the standard book on fleet tactics. They also give younger officers a chance to command a warship, long before trying to do so with cruisers and carriers. Likewise, they give the Navy a chance to evaluateÃâà...
POLITICO Magazine
March 23, 2018
He keeps his head down and keeps his face out of the news,” says Tom Ricks, a columnist for the military news site Task & Purpose and the author of several books on military affairs. Mattis, said Ricks, is a “natural-born killer,” and “Trump, just like dogs smell fear, I think somebody like Trump who has veryÃâà...
Task & Purpose
March 21, 2018
In a sermon the other Sunday, my minister said, “Belief is love. To be believed to is to be loved. Love asks, Who are we? What do we cherish? What do we want to be?” That kind of blew my mind, because I think the questions the minister posed are the beginning of formulating real strategy: Who are we?
Task & Purpose
March 20, 2018
I've lost count of the totals, and apparently so have reporters, judging by this article. –And an Army National Guard brigadier is back on the radar screen and under criminal investigation for alleged flim-flammery at the same time as his philandery. Speaking of the Army, it still isn't clear to me why it gets awayÃâà...
The Atlantic
March 20, 2018
Unlike in Vietnam, few of the reporters who went to Iraq were military veterans. Many came to the war without much relevant experience. It wasn't just Iraqi culture that was unfamiliar. In an experiment, the Pentagon allowed some 600 journalists to embed with military units. Soon after arriving in Iraq, MichaelÃâà...
Task & Purpose
March 16, 2018
He didn't want a fight with the intelligence community. But sometimes you just have to do your job, because you need to establish the historical record so future presidents don't appoint to high positions people who violated American law. But the author of the NYROB article, one Jonathan Stevenson, was ofÃâà...
Task & Purpose
March 13, 2018
Years ago, Andrew Krepinevich, one of the best defense thinkers in the business, wrote a good article about how to deter China. Now the rest of the world is catching up. In a “Proceedings'” interview with retired Navy Capt. Wayne Hughes, the master tactician makes this hawkish recommendation on ChinaÃâà...
The National Interest Online (blog)
March 7, 2018
The other evening in my reading room I reached over to the three-foot stack of military history books I need to go through for my next roundup for the “New York Times Book Review.” Contemplating which book to crack next. I opened one, and almost at random saw the phrase, “Artillery stocks were criticallyÃâà...
Task & Purpose
March 7, 2018
He probably was one of the two or three writers who had the most influence on the thinking of the Founding Fathers. So here is what he ... Tom Ricks has covered the U.S. military for several decades and is the author of six books, most recently Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. He has won someÃâà...
Task & Purpose
March 2, 2018
Hyper-billionaire Warren Buffett, in addition to being rich, is the best business writer of our time. I particularly liked this comment ... Tom Ricks has covered the U.S. military for several decades and is the author of six books, most recently Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. He has won some prizes.
Task & Purpose
February 27, 2018
Get our most popular stories sent to your inbox. Also sign me up for Hirepurpose, a veteran's shortcut to the hiring manager. Yes, I Want Access! No Thanks. Tom Ricks has covered the U.S. military for several decades and is the author of six books, most recently Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom.
Task & Purpose
February 23, 2018
For newcomers, when we say “civil war” here, we are not talking about set-piece battles, but levels of anti-federal actions, such as attacks on federal judges, states taking anti-federal positions, or coordinated efforts that use violence or the threat of it to disobey or nullify federal authority in certain areas.
Vanity Fair
February 22, 2018
“McMaster is very much, 'O.K. sir, here's the point, here's the takeaway, here's my point of view, and here are the things you need to decide by the end of today,'” Tom Ricks, a columnist and author who covers military affairs, told Politico. According to a senior White House aide, Trump once interruptedÃâà...
CBS News
February 22, 2018
Brennan, then CBS News State Department correspondent, participated in a roundtable discussion with the Washington Post's David Ignatius, journalist and author Tom Ricks, and CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. She was asked by moderator Bob Schieffer how the State Department was reacting to theÃâà...
Politico
February 20, 2018
“McMaster is very much, 'OK sir, here's the point, here's the takeaway, here's my point of view, and here are the things you need to decide by the end of today,' ” said Tom Ricks, a columnist for the veterans' news site Task & Purpose and the author of six books on military affairs. The National SecurityÃâà...
Task & Purpose
February 20, 2018
Pictured here: the exhaust plumes from the DN-3 rocket motor, suspended in the stratosphere for a spectacular show in the morning light. Tom Ricks has covered the U.S. military for several decades and is the author of six books, most recently Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. He has won someÃâà...
Task & Purpose
February 19, 2018
Speaking in Brussels the other day, Defense Secretary James Mattis sounded either determined or frustrated when he commented on Iranian activities in the Middle East: “[E]very time there's a problem in the Middle East, whether it be in Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Lebanese Hezbollah, it's in Syria,Ãâà...
Task & Purpose
January 3, 2018
This year, we're reinforcing our commitment to community-driven investigative reporting, story-telling, and analysis of culture and current affairs by bringing on two seasoned journalists who embody our mission. Thomas Ricks, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and bestselling author, will join Task & PurposeÃâà...
Task & Purpose
December 31, 1999
British reporters and the British public, by contrast, for much of the war were kept in the dark about what was happening on the front, according to this book. My Buchan binge was a bit inadvertent. I was on a trip with my wife, and it rained a lot and she didn't feel well, so I read more than I'd expected to.
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