James adams is one of novelist Tom Clancy's favorite defense journalists. This may be because Clancy, who has had little difficulty (even after the Soviet Union's demise) conjuring up high-tech goons out to destroy democracy, sees a kindred spirit in Adams, who warns of so many unfamiliar dangers in today's destabilized world that the old era of Mutually Assured Destruction begins to feel comfortingly predictable. The troubling thing about the affinity between Adams and Clancy is that Adams' latest book isn't fictional, and after reading it, Clancy's books don't seem so overblown.

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