The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, the FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior [Hardcover]

Murray Weiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 14, 2003

Presents the life and death of John P. O'Neill, an FBI agent immersed in terrorist investigations, who attempted to warn top officials of the growing terrorist threat and perished in the attacks on September 11th.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the 1990s, FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill was widely regarded as one of the government's foremost authorities on Mideastern politics and terrorism; he was also a prominent fixture at Manhattan nightlife hot spots like Elaine's. He spent nearly a decade investigating the bombings orchestrated by religious extremists, recognizing Osama bin Laden as a threat long before other federal authorities did. But O'Neill died in another bin Laden attack shortly after leaving the FBI, just a few weeks into a new job as security chief at the World Trade Center. Weiss, as criminal justice reporter for the New York Post, knew O'Neill as a valued source, but from the story he presents, it's unclear how well anybody-even those closest to him-really knew O'Neill, a man described by friends as "on the run from himself" his entire adult life. It wasn't until after his death, for example, that his three girlfriends learned about one another-and that he was still legally bound to the wife he said he had divorced. The biography acknowledges his complicated relationships without lingering over details, putting them in the context of a lifelong need for admiration and approval both personally and professionally. Weiss handles the terrorism angle with slightly less subtlety, asserting that the Clinton administration was distracted from the issue by endless scandal and suggesting that if the rest of the government had investigated it with O'Neill's tenacity, September 11 might have been avoided. But the political overtones never get in the way of this portrait of a dynamic yet enigmatic crusader who was as human as he was heroic.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Murray Weiss, an award-winning investigative journalist and author, is the Criminal Justice Editor at the NEW YORK POST. During more than three decades with the POST and the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, he has written extensively on law enforcement, organized crime, terrorism, criminal justice, and politics. He has appeared frequently on radio and television, including "Larry King Live" and "The O'Reilly Factor" and is co-author of PALM BEACH BABYLON. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (August 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060508221
• ISBN-13: 978-0060508227
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truth Is Sometimes Stranger Than Fiction, June 13, 2005

By 

J. E. Nelson (Plainfield, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, the FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior (Hardcover)

Typically, I have no problem summarizing a book in a review, especially a non-fiction book. However, this is one of those books that tell several stories. This is a book on government bureaucracy, terrorism, a visionary to whom no one will listen, and a man who people love and despise at the same time.

"The Man Who Warned America" is an excellent book on the life of John O'Neill, who was probably one of the FBI's best counterterrorism agents. John O'Neill is a name that I had never heard before until this book.

O'Neill would probably be no more memorable than any other FBI agent, except for a man named Osama Bin Laden. O'Neill had partaken in the investigation of almost every America related terrorist event in recent history, including Oklahoma City, the USS Cole in Yemen, the embassy bombings in Africa, and the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Yet what made O'Neill noteworthy was the fact he fingered Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda as a terrorist threat to the United States in 1995, six years before the infamous attack on the World Trade Center. However, just like a painter without a canvas, O'Neill was a man with an answer to a question no one had the foresight to ask, and no one would listen until it was too late.

The book explores enigma and duality that is O'Neill's personal and professional life. As an FBI agent, O'Neill was second to no one. If it weren't for two indiscretions (one accidental, one the type of thing probably everyone does anyway), O'Neill might have made it to the top spot in the FBI. The book also tells a different side of O'Neill, a womanizer, a chronic liar, and a person who seemingly had no regard for his financial future. Yet, he was a caring father, an insecure mate, and a typical fun-loving American.

The book also explores the government's role (or lack of one) in the bin Laden attacks on American interests. While O'Neill tried to warn America about bin Laden, a scandal riddled Clinton administration seemingly did not want to put their reputation on the line over a terrorist unknown to the American public. O'Neill's issues and frustration with government bureaucracy climaxes in Yemen, with the introduction of Ambassador Bodine. Bodine is portrayed as a bully who symbolizes everything people hate in their government and in a person, whose actions could have cost further American casualties.

I found the book to be an excellent read on the life of an FBI agent, terrorism, and how government bureaucracy might one day cost many people's lives. Despite the complex and outrageous lifestyle of John O'Neill, I think he is a person who most can identify with on a personal level. I think with the way O'Neill is portrayed, some people will find his actions heroic and some people will find him a despicable person. I though the book was a little slow reading in the beginning, but overall it was excellent. However, I think some people will hate the book because they hate the person. I'd highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the life of an FBI agent or people interested in terrorism.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional Read, January 27, 2004

By 

A. A Slezak "Incredulous Reader" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, the FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior (Hardcover)

This is the third book that I have read on this subject and I would say it is probably the best yet it was more personal. The other books are "Why America Slept" and "Sleeping with the Devil". This book of the three seemed to be the most even tempered about pointing blame.

I was truly surprised to find out what all the responsibilities of the FBI were. I thought O'Neill was brilliant is his use of the RICO laws to get street gangs and try to use against the anti abortionists. I especially like the part about Chicago with all the night life that O'Neill had. I guess that's because I am from there and it's interesting people telling stories about places that you have been to.

Learning how the different fanatical groups showed how they were able to make so much money off of America to put to their own use. It was interesting to find out how the FBI got the information on the plan to destroy planes over the pacific from Ranzi Yousef's (the master mind of the first WTC bombing) lap top and that he had a trial run and exploded a bomb on a plane that I never heard about. He was very clever being an electrical engineer. The way that he smuggled all the parts for his timer and bomb on the plane was sagacious. After learning about this guy I was glad that O'Neill caught him, there is a picture of him in the book and it's pretty creepy.

I never realized the destruction of the bombings at the African Embassies was. It was total carnage. Why we never set troops over before seems to be beyond me, it seemed to be played down. I guess we were watching O.J. or something else trivial.

The USS Cole incident was much worse in the loss of life and damage than I seem to remember. Then the lack of cooperation that O'Neill got from the State department. I don't know if the explanation was one sided but since there were so many witnesses of the account I have to believe that most of the relationship stories were true. The FBI never got to talk to any witnesses there or later in Pakistan. These guys were fighting uphill from the start.

O'Neill personal life was unimaginable for me and I think the author might have taken a little literary freedom on this. He was a total scammer, who seemed to think he was a Goodfella with their rules about women.

The trivial things that were used against him to get him to leave the FBI which seemed like his best vocation, reminded me of the petty things that happen at work everyday.

His explanation about why President Clinton didn't take swifter and more direct action seem to emphasize that the President was fighting off his other scandals with Whitewater or Monica Lewinsky and that he was frighten of US troops being killed and how it would affect him in the polls. He never told the FBI director that he was bombing Bin Laden and so the President didn't know the data for his location was old. The President did it to draw attention away from the scandals. President Clinton didn't even include the FBI Director in his security briefings in the later years because he was fighting with him. O'Neill seemed amazed how President Clinton let his private life invade his public life because he though all the trivial matters hurt the President's ability to do his job.

The book does not talk much about Bush's actions during his first year of his Presidency. It describes mostly that it was a transition period so nobody was moving too quickly.

The last part of the book is a real tear jerker and you have to be ready for some of it. I had forgotten that the two planes hit the Towers only 15 minutes apart, I seem to remember it being longer.

The nice thing about this book is that there is the epilogue, a concluding section that rounds out the design of a literary work. Most of these types of books do not utilize this properly but you decide for yourself. The index was helpful too after completing the book.

I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the FBI, History of the last 20 years, Counterterrorist history or would like an interesting read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Piece of Work on Terrorism, September 14, 2003

By 

J. Salomon "bach2blues" (Carmel, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, the FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior (Hardcover)

On the 2nd anniversary of the 9/11 disaster, I was watching NOW on PBS. I was struck by the remark of a widow who commented on the irony of how her husband died at the hands of terrorists, the very news she skipped over [pre 9/11] when reading the NY Times. How ironic that John O'Neill, who spent his adult life seeking that knowledge, would find the same fate. For this book's readability and essential overview of recent terrorist history, I recommend that everyone in America who can read, get this book out of their libraries. Clearly Murray Weiss seeks a wide audience by sticking to an easy reportorial style of writing that won't put people off, which combines the dry stuff of international politics and investigation with a never sensationalist view of O'Neill's personal life. We get the essence of the man, the world he inhabits and the details of his life's work at the FBI, all in one easy read. Good job. Where I might quibble or question is when Weiss clearly can't resist giving jabs to the Clinton administration and Hillary specifically, and in the section on the investigation of the Cole disaster. Weiss can't seem to help hiding his [and perhaps O'Neill's] feelings in those sections. While I don't necessarily disagree with him on Clinton's reaction to terrorist threats, these sections are in contrast to what otherwise seems to be a balanced view of the terrorist danger to our country, one which for this reader, opened up my eyes to want to make further inquiries and read more. And for that, this book gets 5 stars--and would get 10 if that were an available option. Thanks to Murrary Weiss for doing his share, not only as a reporter, but as the author of this book, to try to engage the American public in the real stuff that impacts our lives.