Endorsements by Experts
“In Keeping Watch, Walter Dorn makes a persuasive case for bringing the technology of UN peacekeeping into the 21st century—and not a decade too soon, because the time-honored approach of throwing ill-equipped troops at unstable places just is not working. With a unique mix of substantive and technical expertise, Dorn demonstrates how dozens of existing and emergent technologies—from thermal imaging to crowdsourcing—could be vital force multipliers for peacekeepers, who can’t keep the peace if they don’t know the score. Anyone with an interest in peacekeeping should own this book and use it.”
– William Durch, Director of the Future of Peace Operations Program, Stimson Center
“As the senior editor of the international journal Intelligence and National Security, whenever I receive a manuscript on the subject of intelligence and international organizations, A. Walter Dorn is the first reviewer I turn to for help in evaluating the submission. In Keeping Watch, his deep knowledge is on display. This book is chock full of fascinating charts, tables, drawings, and photographs to accompany Dorn’s signature careful analysis and flashes of original insight. He demonstrates in lucid prose how technology can be highly useful in monitoring, mitigating, and preventing international conflict. Here is a study that should be standard fare in every university course on international conflict and cooperation—indeed, one that citizens everywhere would benefit from reading.”
– Loch K. Johnson, Regents Professor, University of Georgia
“Walter Dorn is one of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable analysts of peacekeeping and security policy, and this book makes an important contribution to a field that needs far more public discussion.”
– Bob Rae, Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic
in Canada’s House of Commons (later leader of the Liberal Party of Canada)
“Dr. Walter Dorn is the ‘dean’ of the peace intelligence scholars, having both founded and nurtured the field since his seminal work on UN intelligence successes in the Congo. This book covers the technical side of UN intelligence, and complements work on harnessing distributed human intelligence. From the Brahimi Report to the High Level Panels on Threats and on System-Wide Coherence, there has been a pattern of ‘emerging intelligence’. This book is the newest contribution––an absolutely essential, practical, and inspiring contribution to help create a prosperous world at peace.”
– Robert David Steele, CEO, Earth Intelligence Network
“The engagement of the United Nations in peacekeeping has increased rapidly over the past decade. In the search for ways to enhance UN operations the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations in 2006 requested a study on how technical monitoring and surveillance can be used to ensure the safety and security of United Nations peacekeeping personnel and improve operational effectiveness of peacekeeping missions.
Dr. Walter Dorn, engaged by the UN’ s Department of Peacekeeping Operations as an independent expert, conducted research and came up with findings which successfully laid the grounds for further development of the idea of monitoring technology in UN peacekeeping. He continued to assist DPKO in establishing an action plan to systematize the knowledge, identify priorities, implement the proposed solutions and set the way forward, in close cooperation with member states
Dr. Dorn’s work was welcomed by the Special Committee. It helped the United Nations understand and appreciate the usefulness of modern technology in peacekeeping. What is also important is that it helped to overcome a psychological barrier which hindered efforts to bring these capabilities into the UN peacekeeping effort.
The book Keeping Watch expands on the author’s "Tools of the Trade?" report to the Special Committee and his other papers on the subject. It provides a very interesting insight into UN peacekeeping operations from the perspective of possible use of modern technology. It helps the reader understand, for example, the issues that need to be considered when using technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles.
This book will be a beacon for the use of modern technology in peacekeeping operations at a time when the UN seeks to overcome the complex challenges it faces in the field.”
– Zbigniew Szlek, Senior Military Adviser, Permanent Mission of Poland to the United Nations