Librarians – More Like the TV Series than You Thought

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black belt librarianI read one of a series of similarly-named books by Warren Graham and was surprised by how much I liked it. The Black Belt Librarian – Real-World Safety and Security is intended for professionals. It’s a short book, with a detailed table of contents and index – perfect for quick reference. I think Graham’s advice would apply to anyone who deals with the public as customers.

Indeed, Graham started in security for retail and theme parks. Midway through the book, the title is explained. As a boy, he was “passive, introverted, and emotional.” Encouraged by a grandfather, he got involved in martial arts. He says the mental discipline and self-control allowed him to become confident and effective dealing with the public. He assures librarians – who can be too introverted and passive – they can master his skills. He also notes that those who are extroverted and aggressive also need training to de-escalate situations.

What could go wrong in a library?

If you’re wondering why librarians need to be mental black-belts, read about the members of the public they deal with – what Graham calls “behavior problems… that run the gamut from the innocuous to the insane.” Restrooms are a nightmare – from patrons who strip to wash clothes and themselves to unwelcome sexual encounters. I now understand why restroom doors are usually within sight of the circulation desk and even then may be locked. My childhood hometown library makes you check out the key.

Warren spends some time convincing librarians who think being welcoming to everyone is their job that allowing disruptive behavior drives many patrons away – that indulging behavior problems denies many patrons use of a library they can’t tolerate. Some of his assessments of patrons may seem harsh at first: “All the nuts are not in the nuthouse,” and “some folks will try to tell you there is no such thing as a stupid question. Obviously, they never worked in a library.”

But he goes on to emphasize librarians must speak about behaviors and avoid terms or actions that show prejudice. Appearances can deceive – Graham once broke up a fistfight between two elderly, well-dressed gentlemen who both wanted the same business reference book.
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Up to Scratch

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The Free Dictionary explains that during the bare-knuckle boxing match era a large circle was drawn on bare ground (called the “boxing ring”) to mark the area where the fight would occur. A line was scratched on the dirt in the middle of the ring. The fighters would indicate they were ready to fight when they stepped up to the line, or up to scratch. The expression evolved into meaning something is satisfactory or meets what is expected.

NATO Exercise Able Archer Spooks Soviets

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Researching to write a book about the justification for the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapon Plant in Colorado has led me to many fascinating historical facts. A CIA report describes how the Soviets had implemented an intelligence collection system with the acronym name RYAN in 1981 to watch for US preparations for launching a surprise nuclear attack. NATO began a command post exercise codenamed Able Archer in 1983 that triggered significant concern in the Soviet Union. They were familiar with the exercise from previous years and noted with concern that high-level US officials usually not involved would participate. There would even be an appearance by President Reagan. Perhaps even more concerning was that there would be “…a practice drill that took NATO forces through a full-scale simulated release of nuclear weapons.”

Oleg Gordievsky was a KGB Colonel stationed in London and a double agent for British intelligence. He reported to the British that “…the KGB Center sent a flash cable to West European residencies advising them, incorrectly, that US forces in Europe had gone on alert and that troops at some bases were being mobilized.” There was speculation this (nonexistent) alert was a response to the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, related to US Army maneuvers, “…or was the beginning of a countdown to a surprise nuclear attack.”

Gordievsky described the reaction in stark terms: “In the tense atmosphere generated by the crises and rhetoric of the past few months, the KGB concluded that American forces had been placed on alert–and might even have begun the countdown to war…. The world did not quite reach the edge of the nuclear abyss during Operation RYAN. But during ABLE ARCHER 83 it had, without realizing it, come frighteningly close–certainly closer than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.” [emphasis added]

The Able Archer story has been studied extensively by the US and Britain and journalists. A consistent conclusion is that the US. And Soviet Union came close to war as a result of the Soviet overreaction, and “…only Gordievsky’s timely warning to the West kept things from getting out of hand…” Gordievsky’s information was also “…an epiphany for President Reagan, convincing him that the Kremlin was fearful of a US surprise nuclear attack…”

Reading the reports about Able Archer and the reactions reminds me that the world was a dangerous place when the decision was made to build Rocky Flats. It continued to be a dangerous place until the Soviet Union dissolved.

Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama

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maximalistAn early quibble about the book is that it did not lead off (at least that I found) with a definition of Maximalist. From reading the book I’m guessing it means taking an extreme foreign policy position. The problem with that simplistic definition is that Truman took an extreme position in several foreign policy matters, to include the “Truman Doctrine” that kept Turkey and Greece out of the clutches of the Soviets and the Marshall Plan that rescued Europe. Reagan also took extreme positions in standing up to the Soviets, or, in Reagan’s words, “the Evil Empire.” Those “extreme positions” presented America as an aggressive world power.  Obama could also be called a “Maximalist” by my simplistic definition. He took extreme positions that resulted, in my opinion, in sending a message that he is disinterested in the U.S. being a world power.

Despite my quibble, the book does describe the major foreign policy positions of the Presidents from Truman to Obama. Truman had given up on cooperation with the Soviets by 1947. He went before Congress to ask for emergency economic and military support to Turkey and Greece to countermand the “Iron Curtain,” as originally named by Churchill. Marshall expanded Truman’s policy of countering the Soviets while helping desperate people in Europe when he announced what would be known as the “Marshall Plan” at a Harvard commencement in June 1947. Marshall attended meetings with the Soviets fearing that the U.S. language had been too strident. He returned convinced that the criticism of the Soviets had been accurate and appropriate. He said in a nationwide radio address that the Soviets were “…clearly adapted to absolute control. They could only lead to dictatorship and strife.” The message from all sides of U.S. foreign policy became the rallying cry originated by Robert Murphy, senior diplomat to Germany, “The United States must run this show.”  Stalin made a huge strategic blunder by ordering all Eastern European diplomats to pull out of the “Marshall Plan” talks. That decision allowed the plan to focus on the countries the U.S. really wanted to support and significantly reduced the costs.

The U.S. policy of “containment” of the Soviets caused them to be more aggressive. They brought down the democratic government of Czechoslovakia in a Communist coup in February 1948 and began the Berlin blockade. One prominent dissenter of the containment policy was George Kennan, who had warned of Soviet intentions in his “Long Telegram” to the U.S. State Department. Kennan had changed his mind and wrote an allegedly anonymous article under the pseudonym “X.”  That article advocated that, “The State Department’s best-informed and most brilliant Soviet expert believed there was no real Soviet military threat to speak of. There was, in turn, no need to do anything about it.” Continue reading →

Caught Flat-Footed

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Charles Earle Funk explains in his book A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions that this expression probably came from the game of football. It means to be unprepared and indecisive; such as would be the case with a football player who has not expected to receive the ball and is tackled before he moves.

Radiation Fears and Depleted Uranium

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A new fear has apparently been created by the application by the U.S. Army with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to leave depleted uranium from firing tests of the Davey Crocket weapons system at the ranges on Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, Colorado and other military locations. The Army contends, and I agree, that “…cleaning up the waste at Fort Carson and other installations is too expensive.”

A military report on the Davey Crocket program indicates that about 7 ounces of depleted uranium was used in each training round. “The Army estimates that more than 1,400 of the training rounds rained down at Fort Carson; none have been found.” The Army reported in 1961 that depleted uranium could be handled “…with your bare hands and it’s not going to hurt you.” The half life is a bit under 4.5 billion years, which indicates there is a minimal or non-existence radiation risk. One research project I was assigned when I worked at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant required the use of machining turnings of depleted uranium. I was warned that the turnings would be sharp, but there was no radiation risk.

The Davey Crocket was a small nuclear round launched from a “bazooka” system. It was tested in Nevada in 1962 in a blast named “Little Feller.” The weapon was a key component of the defense of Germany when there were fears about the massive tank-led army units of the Soviet and East German armies. There were 2,100 Davey Crocket nuclear rounds produced during the Cold War. There were also 75,000 depleted uranium training rounds produced, of which 30,000 were fired. The only risk of the depleted uranium at Fort Carson and the other sites would be if someone found one of the rounds, picked it up, and dropped it on their foot.