Pursuing Challenging New Experiences: Stories I Tell To Family & Friends

I have always sought some form of adventure, or at least rich, challenging and diverse new experiences. As a result, I have led a very crowded professional life as a naval officer; criminal prosecutor; active participant in state, national and international politics; courtroom advocate in high stakes civil cases; senior Government official in the Administrations of two Presidents; educator on national security and foreign policy matters; senior executive in two advanced technology companies; and author. My personal life has also been full of challenging experiences in the Great Outdoors.

The stories contained in this book relate to some of those professional and personal experiences. A few of the stories have been excerpted at least in part from earlier books and articles that I have written. Several other stories are new. Yet others have been told in conversations within my family circle or to friends, but never before published. Each of the stories is self-contained, but together they present a collage of a few particular experiences in my professional career and my personal life. Some of the stories are humorous. Some are serious. Some offer guidance or encouragement. Some are educational. Some are about small, brief incidents that have lingered in my memory. Others relate to conflicts that were important and complex.

I hope that some of them will bring a smile to the faces of the readers and that all of them will be interesting.