Lewis Sorley


Lewis Stone "Bob" Sorley III is an American intelligence analyst and military historian. His books about the U.S. war in Vietnam, in which he served as an officer, have been highly influential in government circles.

Biography

Lewis Sorley was born in 1934, in West Point, New York, the son and grandson of officers in the United States Army who were both also West Point graduates. Sorley became an Eagle Scout in San Antonio, Texas in 1950 and was presented the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2009. He received his high school education at Texas Military Institute, where he is listed as a distinguished graduate, and was admitted to the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Military Engineering in 1956.
From August to December, 1956, he attended Armor Officer Basic Course, Fort Knox, Kentucky. In January, 1957, he attended Parachute and Jumpmaster Courses, Fort Benning, Georgia. From February through October he was assigned to Company H, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Meade, Maryland as a Reconnaissance Platoon Leader. Then he was promoted to Company Commander. In October, he went with an advance party as Executive Officer of Company H, a part of the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Amberg, West Germany. From October 1957 to June 1960 he served with 3rd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, in Amberg as XO of Company H, a tank platoon leader in Tank Company and Squadron S-4. From June 1960 to June 1961 he commanded A Company, 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Knox, Kentucky. From June 1961 until May 1962, he attended the Armor Officer Advance Course at The Armor School, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
In 1963, he received a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. From 1963 to 1966 he served at the United States Military Academy as an instructor and assistant professor in the Department of English. From 1966 to 1967 he served as Executive Officer, 1st Tank Battalion, 69th Armor, U.S. Army in the Republic of Vietnam. From 1968 to 1970 he served as Assistant Secretary of the General Staff, Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. In 1971 and 1972 he was Commander, 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor, U.S. Army, Erlangen, West Germany. In 1973 he joined the faculty of the U.S. Army War College as the Program Director in the Department of Military Planning and Strategy. While there, he completed a Master of Public Administration at Pennsylvania State University. He also attended Harvard University and the U.S. Naval War College. In 1975 he became the Senior Military Assistant to the Director of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he served for two years.
In 1976, he retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel and joined the Central Intelligence Agency where he became the Chief of the Policy and Plans Division, Intelligence Community Staff. In 1978 he became a Senior Inspector in the Office of Inspector General. In 1979 he was appointed Chief of Audit Support and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in National Security Policy from Johns Hopkins University. In 1982 he was appointed Office Director and Program Manager, National Intelligence Emergency Support Office where he served until 1983.
He was associated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 1984-1985 and is a member of the advisory council of National Defense Intelligence College as well as the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Sorley's 2004 book Vietnam Chronicles: the Abrams Tapes won the Army Historical Foundation's Trefry Award for providing "a unique perspective on the art of command". His 2008 book Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System points out the similarities between the West Point motto of "Duty, Honor, Country" and the Boy Scouts of America's Scout Oath, stating that each may have influenced the other, pointing out that last part of the Scout Oath was once part of the Cadet Prayer: "...physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

Awards and accomplishments

Sorley wrote A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam which was published in 1999. The book describes an escalating war with the Lyndon B. Johnson White House viewing the conflict too narrowly to see pitfalls of the war. The book was read by Deputy National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon, one of the major foreign policy advisors in the White House who gave the book to Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff. President Barack Obama has stated that he has read the book as has Vice President Joseph Biden. The book has been compared to a contrasting book, Lessons in Disaster, which is widely read by military leaders. The Wall Street Journal reported the reading of the book by officials at the highest level of government and that it influenced the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.

Selected works