Customer Reviews

The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

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This is a remarkable work on the activity of the US intelligence community. Of special interest to some readers, such as myself, is the chapter on the debriefing of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein while in American custody at Baghdad's International Airport. Kessler writes that a GS 14 FBI agent of Lebanese stock, George Piro, was assigned to debrief Saddam. Instead of doing so directly, Piro decided that he should first observe Saddam to map out his behavior so that he can later tell whether the late dictator was telling the truth or not. Saddam first took Piro as the chief of the guards and Piro did not correct Saddam's impression. Instead, he ordered that most of Saddam's needs be answered. As friendship developed between the two men, Piro was able to win Saddam's trust and ultimately debrief him smoothly. Of the stories Saddam told Piro was how he conceived of himself as the successor of great Iraqi rulers such as Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar. Saddam also told Piro that Iraq had no chemical weapons after 1991, but gave such an impression to keep its rival Iran on its toes. Saddam was apparently not impressed by his two sons, but said that one does not get to choose his children. The chapter is interesting, however, brief. Perhaps in the future, once Saddam's hundreds of pages of debriefing, as Kessler reported, would be declassified, they would give historians and scholars the chance to rewrite Iraq's modern history in a more accurate manner.

Kessler takes the reader into the world of counterterrorism and paints a realistic picture of today's world. I learned a lot about the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the National Counterterrorism Center.

The book contains the good, the bad, and the ugly of the evolution of the U.S.'s effort to counter Islamic terrorism.

The bad begins on page 12 when Robert Muller gave Bob Dies a list of software he would require upon becoming Director of the FBI--Microsoft Office for example. Dies informed him that none of it would work on the FBI's current (ancient) computers. It seems the current director, Louis Freeh did not like computers and never used them. This is but one example of what had gone wrong in the 1990s. The FBI was unable to process information and could not communicate with each other or other agencies.

The ugly is "the wall" created by Richard Scruggs in a 1995 memo. Instead of realizing Scruggs was an ill-informed idiot, Deputy AG Jamie Gorelick and the AG, Janet Reno approved Scruggs memo.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the good, how things have improved. The wall has been torn down and the CIA, FBI and other agencies are communicating.

Before making any type of judgment on how well, or how poorly, the U.S. is doing in combating terrorism, read this book.

FBI Special Agent Piro's eight months interview with Saddam Hussain is worth the price of the book. Saddam confirmed that he had fooled his generals, Iran, and the West into thinking he had WMDs. He did not think the U.S. would invade, and his fear was Iran--and it should be ours too.

I really liked the first half of this book as it covered the nuts and bolts of the war on terror but the author's academic integrity slips more and more as the book goes on as he rails against media disclosures that hamper the efforts of those that are tasked to keep America safe. It is ironic that an author who is upset about anti-terrorist efforts being hampered by media disclosures about tactics and strategies would in fact write a book about these very strategies and go on to describe the security encountered at government facilities he visits that are terrorist targets. I should have known not to expect too much from a former journalist who describes his former colleagues' trustworthiness by saying "Polls show that journalists are trusted about as much as used car salesman and politicians(Kessler 214)."

The book provided an excellent overview of the hard work happening within the US Intelligence Community to defend our country and its allies against a very determined enemy. It also provides a well thought out and articulated counterpoint on issues regarding intelligence collection under the Patriot Act...more of the dialog that the press -and the administration- on why these measures were needed. Bush haters, probably need not apply as the writers bias paints the President's actions against violent Sunni extremists in a very positive light. Similarly, author is damming in his characterization of the haphazard nature that the New York Times and Washington Post disclose the most sensitive portions of our intelligence collection efforts against this target.

I am glad I got the audio version of the book and sense that this was probably easier to listen to than read.

Ronald Kessler does what the New York Times and other newspapers fail to do--he gives an accurate and insightful account of the people who work tirelessly for our safety against terrorism: The FBI and the CIA. This book explains the changes made by the FBI and the CIA to reform their operations to adjust to Islamic Fanatics. It also gives a look into the FBI agent who personally interrogated Saddam Hussein for months. Through this book, you get to know Saddam Hussein better. You learn that he was a neat freak, always needing to wash his hands. You learn that Saddam was a student of history. You also learn that he had a human side.

As usual, Kessler doesn't disappoint. His book is well written and keeps you interested the whole time. While the New York Times might not give the FBI and CIA the credit they deserve, Ronald Kessler does.

Fills in a lot of blanks the press seems to leave out. Unpartisanly written. If you want to know the un-conspiracy theory look at what the intelligence community has been doing since 9/11; Clinton's view of intelligence; Bush's view; is the war on terror winable; more about the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc then this book is a must read. If you want to learn more about the Plame leak and other leaks and the Press' irresponsible actions of realeasing the leaks that ultimately help terrorists then you gotta read this.

In many ways this is a great book. Looks deep into the fight against the terrorists and the challenges that the FBI and CIA face from the terrorists and the New York Times and Congress. Although not perfect the book should be required reading for every member of Congress and the press.

Much of the story is written from the post Freeh FBI viewpoint. We are reminded that Director Mueller was confirmed at the new Director of the FBI less than 40 days prior to the 9-11 attack. His confirmation ended the reign of Louie Freeh who through resignation managed to avoid much of the 9-11 spotlight. However, there's no doubt that the FBI suffered from the politics of the time and Freeh's incompetence.

The author paints a picture of far more FBI - CIA cooperation in the fight on terrorism than the public hears from the press. There's a lot of focus on the widespread efforts, many of which ended up with various plots stopped prior to execution.

The author provides more background information on the infamous memo from the Reno DOJ that constructed the wall between the investigative and prosecution sides of the FBI. Perhaps the reason there was no outcry from the FBI was Freeh's belief that the "FBI was one of the most dangerous agencies in the US government. The tragedy of the Freeh FBI was that so many competent agents left the agency and so many men like Potts were promoted. This culture directly led to the Wen Ho Lee debacle including the failure to debrief Lee, the suppression of memos which correctly identified the risk of foreign Muslims taking flight lessons.

One of the major impediments to going after all kinds of bad guys is the restriction on using informants who may have committed human rights abuses. Under these rules the FBI would have been impaired from recruiting one of Hitler's close associates or those who have direct knowledge of many terrorist activities.

The problems- at times the book becomes a little repetitive . Better editing would have made it more readable. However, the book makes a contribution to understanding the struggle against terrorism. Best read along with IC Smith's , Inside .

This is a clearly-written, concise, well-documented and imminently relevant work. I've tried to stay up in this genre, and this one is the leader, in my opinion. Kessler is a very fine writer.

Published in 2008, I am just now getting around to Ronald Kessler's The Terrorist Watch. In this book, Kessler brings us up to speed on what has changed in security intelligence since 9/11. Readers are taken inside the FBI and CIA and given glimpses into what has been happening in the White House since then. This is really a revealing and exciting read. Every page has insights fully worth the effort. That said, readers who come to the Bush Administration with preconceived notions about how the War on Terror was carried out during his terms, might feel a little uncomfortable. Kessler's position on media coverage of the War on Terror also might inflame some. However, the book still has a great deal to say about how we reacted, what the Government is doing to secure our security, and the implications of 9/11. The publication date is 2008, but the book is no less relevant still.

One more well researched book to add to the Kessler shelf. I've been a fan since the early days of his writing and Terrorist Watch does not disappoint.