Last Updated on January 28, 2025
Resident Ed Appel reviews Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes by Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy [New York: HarperCollins, 2017] on Tuesday, February 21, 2025 at 7 PM in the Auditorium. This is his review for the February 2025 Sunburst.
Warnings is a study of major disasters predicted by experts who, like the mythological Greek Cassandra who predicted the fall of Troy, were ignored until it was too late. Richard A. Clarke oversaw analysts at the State Department and in the White House National Security Council. With his associate R.P. Eddy, he studied major failures to prepare for cataclysmic events to find common threads and principles. How can we heed authentic Cassandras?
Analyzing the Cassandras’ warnings and disasters, including Katrina, Fukushima, the Great Recession, the rise of ISIS, the spread of viruses and others, the book suggests patterns that interfere with acceptance of valid warnings. It provides a basis for analyzing current
threats, like cyber attacks, artificial intelligence, bioengineering and pandemics, to identify and assess genuine expert predictions and ignore doomsayers.
When published in 2017 this book made President Bill Clinton’s reading list. Its message stands today as a template for futurists, intelligence professionals, historians, sociologists and psychologists trying to foresee disasters and understand what could go wrong.
Author Richard A. Clarke is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs, Senior Director of Counterterrorism in the National Security Council and Cybersecurity Advisor to President George W. Bush. He has authored seven non-fiction books and four novels.
Resident Ed Appel is a retired FBI Special Agent and executive who served in the National Security Council during Clarke’s tenure. He has presented ELLIC courses and previously reviewed books.