Nice email from a reader:

Mr. Barnett,

Just wanted to let you know that The Pentagon's New Map is on my top 5 books of all time. I think you should receive a Pulitzer for it. I've read all of your articles and am looking forward to Blueprint for Action.

I spent a few years in the Navy after college, finishing up as an Anti-Terrorism Training Officer just as 9/11 came on the scene. Have since spent my career as a Criminal Investigator for the banking industry and the last couple of years as an Investigator for an international shipping company. I'm also working on my M.A. in Criminal Justice. I only mention this because your work has inspired me to draw a parallel.

I think your Core-Gap principle as well as the "lessons learned" cited in the most recent Esquire magazine article could be completely applied to our domestic crime/corrections/judicial problems. We have developed our own internal "quagmire" because we are fighting the wrong war. I'm all for locking up the bad guys but this is ultimately a dangerously narrow-minded proposition. I think we in the Criminal Justice world need to think more dynamically and work on shrinking the Gap within our own country. In fact, my Masters Thesis might be on this very issue.

Just wondering if you've ever thought of this (you probably have) and hoping that you might someday consider an article on it?

Anyway, just wanted you to know that I'm a big fan. Keep up the good work and God bless.

M.B. (actual name witheld pending okay)

Phoenix, AZ

My reponse to M.B.?

I've been confronted a number of times with this observation, and believe it to be incredibly true. I know it's true from the months I spent with Enterra Solutions colleague Bradd Hayes doing strategic planning for the United Way of Rhode Island, and from my interactions with the Providence police chief on this subject.

Beyond that gut feeling, I have little to offer because I need people like yourself to educate me on what comes next--beyond this basic realization. So, naturally, I'd be thrilled to see your masters involve this question. The exploration of essential resiliency inside the Core's own Gaps should tell us a lot about how best to shrink the Gap with time.

Remember what I've said in the books and here in the blog: there is nothing going on inside the Gap right now that we haven't encountered and conquered (or attempted to conquer in the past). All we need to do in order to understand how best to shrink the Gap is to look inside ourselves and remember our past--and our present, as this excellent email points out.

But no, don't wait on any Pulitizers, which naturally go to books that do more reporting than I ever hope to achieve in my work. Not sure what the appropriate award is for grand strategy books, but I'll gladly take one of those!