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Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us - and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves
 
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Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us - and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves [Hardcover]

3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)


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Book Description

February 18, 2003
Consider these two scenarios: (1) Warned of an impending terrorist attack, Americans endure disruptive security measures—or simply stay home and hide. By day’s end, it doesn’t matter: A plane carrying a “dirty” bomb has crashed in Los Angeles, killing tens of thousands of people; (2) After an alert, Americans face strict yet sensible and efficient security, before a suspect is arrested and an attack averted.

The first scenario is inevitable unless we take immediate steps to ensure the second. Written by one of America’s foremost security experts, a specialist who has worked closely with the FBI and other agencies, Forewarned is a brave and indispensable new approach to local, national, and worldwide law enforcement, a specific blueprint for altering America in order to save it, and a road map to protecting ourselves and those we love. Starting from the shocking contention that everything done to fight terrorism at home since 9/11 has been politicized, expedient, and inept, Michael Cherkasky presents a step-by-step plan for improving our chances of survival while understanding where we’ve gone wrong. Here are frank discussions on a variety of issues:

• Well-meaning but ineffectual, the “Homeland Security Department” should be overhauled—its color-coded “threat alerts” are simply ignored or ridiculed
• Ground airport security (from National Guard deployment to banning of sharp instruments) should be abandoned as useless
• Fighting terrorism should be shifted from the “rigid and hierarchical” FBI to a new Domestic Intelligence Bureau (DIB) with expanded powers
• All cargo containers should be bar-coded, uplinked to a satellite, and downlinked to a database, to prevent the shipping of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons (only 2 percent of containers are inspected now)
• All airplane luggage should be screened for explosives and electronically matched to a passenger (not done now)
• Every citizen over six should be given a new “US/ID card” to start a lifelong database of associations and actions that could speed (most) people through airports, landmarks, or government buildings without incident

Presenting a provocative new program that is practical, thoughtfully conceived, and easily adopted, Forewarned is an unprecedented book for a swiftly changing landscape, one that must be read by all citizens—and by all officials sworn to protect them.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Consider these two scenarios: (1) Warned of an impending terrorist attack, Americans endure disruptive security measures?or simply stay home and hide. By day?s end, it doesn?t matter: A plane carrying a ?dirty? bomb has crashed in Los Angeles, killing tens of thousands of people; (2) After an alert, Americans face strict yet sensible and efficient security, before a suspect is arrested and an attack averted.

The first scenario is inevitable unless we take immediate steps to ensure the second. Written by one of America?s foremost security experts, a specialist who has worked closely with the FBI and other agencies, Forewarned is a brave and indispensable new approach to local, national, and worldwide law enforcement, a specific blueprint for altering America in order to save it, and a road map to protecting ourselves and those we love. Starting from the shocking contention that everything done to fight terrorism at home since 9/11 has been politicized, expedient, and inept, Michael Cherkasky presents a step-by-step plan for improving our chances of survival while understanding where we?ve gone wrong. Here are frank discussions on a variety of issues:

? Well-meaning but ineffectual, the ?Homeland Security Department? should be overhauled?its color-coded ?threat alerts? are simply ignored or ridiculed
? Ground airport security (from National Guard deployment to banning of sharp instruments) should be abandoned as useless
? Fighting terrorism should be shifted from the ?rigid and hierarchical? FBI to a new Domestic Intelligence Bureau (DIB) with expanded powers
? All cargo containers should be bar-coded, uplinked to a satellite, and downlinked to a database, to prevent the shipping of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons (only 2 percent of containers are inspected now)
? All airplane luggage should be screened for explosives and electronically matched to a passenger (not done now)
? Every citizen over six should be given a new ?US/ID card? to start a lifelong database of associations and actions that could speed (most) people through airports, landmarks, or government buildings without incident

Presenting a provocative new program that is practical, thoughtfully conceived, and easily adopted, Forewarned is an unprecedented book for a swiftly changing landscape, one that must be read by all citizens?and by all officials sworn to protect them.

About the Author

Michael Cherkasky is president and CEO of Kroll, Inc., the renowned security firm with seventy offices in eighteen countries. An expert on intelligence, Cherkasky supervised the state prosecutors assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Cherkasky knows government officials around the world and has worked with former members of the CIA, FBI, Israeli Mossad, British MI-5 and M1-6, Hong Kong police, and other security services that are experts on terrorism. He currently oversees the court-mandated reform of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Alex Prud’homme is a nationally recognized journalist who has written on business, crime, politics, and culture for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, and other publications.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (February 18, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345461681
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345461681
  • Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,460,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Informative Read, October 14, 2003
This review is from: Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us - and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves (Hardcover)
This is an excellent book that also provides answers and suggestions and not just observations on how weak and ineffective security is since 9/11. Everybody knows the issues but analysis is limited and nobody has real solutions although this book provides many. The author's long time at Kroll, an investigative company very well known on Wall Street, lends a lot more credence than some of the books I read by former rogue news reporters. I also wouldn't give any thought to the anonymous reviewer here who can't be named, gives a bad rating, and is probably a competitor or someone who might have been caught!!! Made me want to buy this book even more...
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for everyone, March 13, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us - and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves (Hardcover)
FOREWARNED: Why the Government is Failing to Protect Us and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves is a timely and important book that you must read if you care about national and personal security. Whether you agree with everything that the author recommends, this book is so essential that I ordered copies for my two married brothers, my mother, and several of my colleagues at work. I hope our President and every member of Congress reads it and that it helps shape Government policy.
The author Michael Cherkasky is the CEO of Kroll, the world famous security agency with 70 offices in 18 countries. He offers tips for making Americans better protected from terrorist incidents, including information on home safety, corporate security, and foreign travel. He also provides practical measures our country can take to help our security agencies foresee and forestall future attacks. These range from issuing new US/ID cards for every citizen, to bar-coding and linking all cargo containers-via satellite-to a database, thus helping to prevent the shipping of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons.
Cherkasky says that the danger of terrorism isn't going to go away. September 11th changed America forever. We're dealing with an enemy who is willing to die to kill us. We must be prepared because we will be attacked again, and our current national security policy is ineffective.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An important book, agree or disagree, April 10, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us - and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves (Hardcover)
I'm baffled by the bad reviews some people have submitted--including one based on half an hour browsing in a bookstore! These people must have political axes to grind. I found FOREWARNED an important book raising issues about national security few people are raising. Some of Cherkasky's ideas will be disliked by liberals, some by conservatives--he advocates a national ID card and database, opposes racial profiling, and says corporations should do much more to protect their facilities. I don't agree with everything he suggests but his proposals ought to be getting a broader debate in Congress and elsewhere.
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