Customer Reviews

Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It would probably be useful to potential readers to explain what this book is not before discussing what it is. It is not a "secret history" in any sense nor is it a diatribe against either the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) or the Executive Branch of government. The book is a sober and sobering history of how the U.S. has dealt with issues of State and non-State terrorism from World War II through the catastrophe of September 11 2001. Naftali also does a great service by noting the obvious similarities between the operating techniques of counter-Espionage and counter Terrorism (especially domestic).

In this book Naftali chronicles the failure of our political and national security systems to effectively protect American lives and property from terrorist threats. Naftali does record those rare successes against individual terrorists such as Abu Nidal, but the thrust of his book is that on the whole we have had difficulty countering terrorism in any form. He gives a fairly detailed case study of the series of terrorist attacks against U.S. personal in Lebanon during 1983-1984. The perpetrators of these attacks were members of Hezbollah, a Shia terrorist organization sponsored by Iran and enabled by Syria. In the case of the bombing of the U.S. Beirut Embassy in 1984 as it turned out, if the CIA had reviewed its available evidence, especially imagery they would have seen that a mock up of the U.S. Embassy had been constructed and was being used to train for car bomb attacks against the real thing. This is not a matter of "connecting the dots"; it is a matter of knowing the target (in this case Hezbollah) and building rational indications lists. In the fallout from this series of disasters, the redoubtable Charlie Allen, a long time CIA employee, called attention to the existence of this imagery (hind site is always 20/20). As a result Allen was named the new National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for counter-Terrorism. To his credit, Allen almost immediately tried to make information sharing a part of IC culture by connecting all concerned agencies directly with the CIA center for photo interpretation. Needless to say the IC culture than as now was largely opposed to sharing anything and Allen's efforts came to naught. In the couple of chapters of this book Naftali does chronicle the efforts by the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations to deal with the terrorist threat posed by the Osama bin Laden movement. Neither comes off very well in this, but the Bush administration comes off as the most indifferent, at least prior to 9/11.

This reviewer would recommend that prior to reading this book; interested readers should read "Inside Terrorism" by Bruce Hoffman to understand all the different manifestation of terrorism.

While many recent works on terrorism focus almost exclusively on the most recent incarnation (Islamic jihadists), Naftali reviews the much broader historical counterterrorism landscape. Perhaps most interesting is the historical parallel he draws between the difficult decisions the Clinton and Bush II administrations faced prior to 9-11 and those faced by the Johnson and Nixon administrations. The author does a tremendous job of reinforcing that terrorism and U.S. efforts to combat it are nothing new, and that policymakers often find themselves faced with the same difficult decisions and repeating the same mistakes as their predecessors. Those readers who wish to read more than this book offers about counterterrorism policy since the late 1990s should read Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and Peter Bergen's Holy War, Inc.

The recounting of contemporary histroy seems to focus more on the activities of the Republican administrations with a glossing over of the activities (or lack thereof) of the Democratic administrations. The most interesting fact related about the Carter administration is that they found it expedient to stall actions on counterterrorism by encouraging the debate of whether one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. I lost trust in the author's accounts when, after describing the importance of Abu Nidal and efforts against him in the 80's, he tells us that "Abu Nidal later died of natural causes in Baghdad". I still remember that those "natural causes" were reported by Iraqi Intelligence, in the months before the US invasion of Iraq, as "5 self-inflicted gunshot wounds". It seems very convenient to describe that as "natural causes" if you want to avoid the subject that Abu Nidal might have been performing some function in his years in Baghdad.

This book takes an interesting approach to the issue of counterterrorism, going back to WWII times and giving good historical background. Perhaps the topic is a little too broad, but the book lacks detail that has been published in other sources and little that is new. The biggest problem is that the author will gladly include any innuendo or single-source comment that is critical of a Republican president, but conveniently leaves out similar criticism of Democrats. Most notably in the case of Clinton, he leaves out the fact that Clinton was offered bin Ladin (Clinton has admitted this) but refused. The author also ignores accusations by numerous individuals close to Clinton about his failure to focus on terrorism or take opportunities to get bin Ladin. The fact that he just omits these references rather than rebutting them if he disagrees, implies a certain bias. Rather disappointing, but well-written and quite readable.

This is an excellent compilation of the various U.S. government responses to the threat of terrorism, starting with the end of WWII and continuing up to 9/11. It wins a "5" on timeliness, "4s" on content and writing, down-graded mainly because of puny policy recommendations. It was especially valuable to me in pointing out how vulnerable we are during the periodic interregums, as new Presidents and their minions attempt to put their own stamps on government. It was more valuable pointing out the difficulties successive Presidents and their staffs faced in trying to get authority to conduct the kinds of operations that seem to be necessary to fight terrorist acts. The tension between freedom from government scrutiny and the freedom from terrorism posed insurmountable obstacles before 2001. Finding the appropriate balance remains a key issue for this country.

The author reviews the historical counterterrorism landscape from Second World War to pre 9/11. The author documented that terrorism and U.S. efforts to combat it are nothing new, and that policymakers often find themselves faced with the same decisions and repeating the same mistakes as their predecessors. Clinton and Bush and those faced by the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I administrations. From the first hijackings in the 60's that didn't seem too dangerous to the last one and most deadly.

I am not an expert on terrorism, so I'm not going to bestow my wisdom (or lack thereof) of this subject upon you. Instead, I'll provide my opinion of this book.

I found the book to be very readable, which pleased me. Sometimes works centered around government and politics can be a dry, difficult read. Blind Spot was written for the layperson, and the author was careful to keep the work moving at a fast pace. Furthermore, Naftali avoided dragging us down endless side-trails. He covered America counterterrorism policy and practice over the course of modern history, just like he said he would.

Secondly, I loved the fact that this book took us clear back to WWII and covered each administration. Contrary to some reviews, I didn't get the feeling at all that some administrations were given a pass while others were blamed. I thought that the author did a very good job of keeping an objective distance and of recording the history. He did not offer up his opinions, and he did not get caught up in himself by giving us his analysis. He just recorded history and let us make up our own minds about our own government's actions.

I belive readers would be well-served by reading this book and then following it up with the 9/11 Commission Report. Combining the two would, I think, provide the reader with a good understanding of how 9/11 came to pass.

I found Blind Spot to be a refreshing look at terrorism prior to when it became a sexy topic.

Blind Spot is a highly informative tome on what was happening in this country in terms of terrorism pre 911. It takes you from the early days in August 1969 when Palestinian terrorists hijacked TWA Flight 840 to the current battle with Al Qaeda. Having worked on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States or as you all will be more familure with the 911 Commission he knows that which he speaks.

If you want to learn what your US Government was doing about terrorism prior to 911 then this is the book you need to click on and proceed straight to the check out page.

If you like to konw more about modern and contemporary history, this book is for you. The author collected information from different sources for the 9/11 commision and expanded it further for this book. It's better than a mistery book as you know some of the fact but you didn't know all it happened behind the scenes.
My wife's granfather was a spy after WWII and I found references of his work in this book too.

It was a good book, educating as well as very interesting. A great telling of our History with counterterrorism.