THE ART OF WAR

    Over 2,000 years ago China was ruled by a vast network of families, related by blood or marriage.  Over time these families began to fight among themselves, leading to the break up of the ruling Zhou dynasty.  Warfare became endemic in China for the next two centuries -- families and their allies were fighting all the other families with their allies -- and no one could trust the governments, the courts or other social institutions to hold things together.  Only the strong and the smart could prevail.

    As a consequence of all this fighting, legions of military advisors attached themselves to the various families, setting forth their ideas on how best to achieve victory.  Over time the best of these ideas were collected and passed on orally to each succeeding generation of warriors, generals and strategists.  Sun Tzu was one of the most successful of these advisors, a warrior-philosopher who had put these ideas of good use during his service to his ruler.  Years after his death, Sun Tzu's disciples put his teachings into written form -- The Art of War.

Many cops are familiar with this book -- or at least the title of it.  Far fewer are familiar with what it contains.  It has been described as "the most influential book of strategy in the world today" and it sets forth principles and tactics of warfare that are still relevant in the 21st century.  The Art of War came into being some 2,400 years ago, half a world away and hundreds of years before Septimus Maximus achieved fame as "The Gladiator."

    The Art of War is a timeless text.  Generals on both sides of the war in Vietnam applied it; the United States Marine Corps has incorporated it into its manual of combat tactics, Warfighting; radio commentators referred to it when China captured an American reconnaissance plane in 2000, and even Tony Soprano discussed its relevance to his way of life in an episode of  "The Sopranos."

    It is not an easy book to grasp.  As one commentator wrote of The Art of War, "it is somewhat obscure on the first or second reading . . . it may resist immediate understanding."  I've read it many times over the past few years, and I'm still discovering fresh aspects to it.

It would be more convenient, but not necessarily better, to simply read a moder day tactics book where everything is laid out in plain English.  The Art of War conveys an idea in just a few words, where it might take a modern writer a paragraph or two to say the same thing.  Sun Tzu's images and ideas will make you look at tactics in a new light.

TO WIN WITHOUT FIGHTING IS BEST

    For those of you with some time on the Team, you've seen a change in how warrant service operations with CPC have been conducted.  It used to be that we would drive up and quickly get into position, the entry team would do a quick "knock and notice" and then the battering ram would go to work on the front door.  Lately, we've been getting into position covertly, and then when everyone was in position, we'd call into the objective to tell the subject(s) that they're surrounded, and to come out peacefully.  Sun Tzu would approve of this change in our tactics:

One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful.  Subduing the other's military without battle is the most skillful.

 VICTORY, NOT PERSISTENCE

    In the late 1980's there was an incident on O'Farrell Street where a Vietnamese male had threatened his father with a .45.  The Specialists had to evacuate all the old people whose apartments were on the same floor as the suspect's, and the Red Cross had to put them up for the duration of the event.

    Hostage negotiators had the father talking to the son with a bullhorn in the hallway for hours at a time, trying to coax him out of the apartment, while the bosses puzzled over how to handle the situation.  After three days the bosses authorized an entry into the apartment.  The entry team found the son asleep in an armchair and the .45 in a shoebox in the closet.  A couple of Specialists quit the Team in disgust because of the way the whole thing was handled.  Here's what Sun Tzu said about situations like that:

Thus in the military one has heard of foolish speed but has not observed skillful prolonging.  And there has never been a military prolonging that has brought advantage to the state.

    The longer an incident runs, the greater its effect on the Department and the City:  Overtime costs mount, traffic needs to be diverted around the incident, runs start hanging because station officers are needed on the outer perimeter, and Specialists and CPC personnel get worn down.  Those in charge need to examine the totality of a situation by

TAKING WHOLE

    The skillful practitioner of The Art of War must see the world as a whole, composed of many shifting, interrelated aspects.  There are tactical, political logistical and ethical factors present in every situation we respond to, and each of these must be duly considered when deciding on a plan of action.  "Taking whole" is not just a way of seeing and considering things, but also a way of acting during those times of conflict.

The general rule for use of the military is that it is better to keep an opponent's army intact than to destroy it.

    Some may wonder why a book on the principles and tactics of warfare would include such a passage.  Sun Tzu was not some liberal pacifist.  He recognized that sometimes conflict is inevitable, just as we do.  We Specialists train to be quick and accurate with out weapons.  The entry team practices both dynamic assault and explosive breaching techniques to deal with an armed opponent.  If we cannot avoid it, we will use forceful measures to conclude an incident, with the realization that there are consequences to every action we take -- reports to be written, a crime scene to be processed, possible future legal  proceedings, and the emotional effect on the involved members if deadly force was required.

Therefore, those who are not thoroughly aware of the disadvantages in the use of arms cannot be thoroughly aware of the advantages in the use of arms.

    So, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each plan, and then proceed according to your decision.

PREPARATIONS

    There are other lessons for the individual Specialist in The Art of War.  In the January/February 2001 issue of The Specialist I wrote about the philosophy of "Right Here, Right Now" -- the training you do today dictates how successful you will be in future battles.  It took me a couple of paragraphs to explain it all.  Here's how Sun Tzu stated the same idea:

Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army battles and then seeks victory.

You need a good base of preparations first, before you go into battle.  But your preparations will do nothing to diminish your opponent's level of skill -- you must look for gaps in his defenses, and strike at just the right moment:

In ancient times warriors first made themselves invincible and awaited the enemy's moment of vulnerability.

 Some years ago in The Specialist I wrote about the account of Albuquerque P.D. sniper Steve Rodriquez, who responded to the scene of a man holding a baby over the edge of an elevated roadway.  He ran 1/2 mile with all his gear to get to the scene.  Rodriquez's training had prepared him to make a shot under those conditions (thus making him "invincible") but he had to wait for the suspect's "moment of vulnerability" -- which came when the suspect began walking away form the sniper with the baby cradled to his chest.  As the suspect prepared to throw the baby over the edge of the railing, Rodriguez took the shot, killing the suspect and saving the baby from certain death.

APPLYING FORCE

    Sun Tzu describes the application of force in its many forms:

There are only five notes in the musical scale, yet all their variations cannot be heard.

There are only five basic colors, yet all their variations cannot be seen.

There are only five basic flavors, yet all their variations cannot be tasted.

There are only two kinds of charge in battle:

The unorthodox surprise attach and the orthodox direct attack, yet all the variations of the unorthodox and the orthodox cannot be exhausted.

So, we must vary our tactics according to the situation.  We must be like water -- it is soft and flows around obstacles seeking an easy path, yet when it is concentrated, as in a flood through a ravine, it can move boulders.  Sun Tzu concluded this chapter in his text by noting:

So a military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.

Warfare is the art of deception.  Move covertly.  Appear where the enemy will not expect you.  Hide in plain sight.  Use terrain, weather, and the circumstances of the moment to your advantage.  Fool the enemy by showing him something he expects to see -- he will respond in a predictable fashion.  Be spiritlike.

    I've barely scratched the surface of The Art of War in these few pages.  If you are serious about your work as a tactical professional, if you would "make yourself invincible" and "take whole" then you need to make your own study of The Art of War.  Go to the page listing "Sources of Tactical Philosophy" for further guidance.