The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It [Hardcover]

John J. Miller (Author), Michael Stone (Author), Chris Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 14, 2002

September 11, 2001 marked the beginning of a new era in history, but the forces that triggered those attacks have been in place for years and continue to operate within the United States and abroad. Experts estimate that as many as 500 terrorist cells exist in America today. ABC News journalist John Miller has been tracking this story since his coverage of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. He was the first American journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden, and he has a sophisticated knowledge of the structure and workings of extremist organizations. The Cell contains information gleaned from sources within the FBI, CIA, and the local law enforcement communities currently conducting the investigation into the September 11 attacks.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eye-opening investigation into anti-American terrorist activities would have been even more shocking if information hadn't already started to dribble out about the inadequacies of the FBI and CIA in tracking and preventing such activities. But every page of this information-packed report seems to announce ineffectual actions, missed opportunities and frustrated agents on the ground blocked by the FBI hierarchy, turf battles and political lack of will. Even by the mid-1990s, when al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were well known to U.S. authorities, strong action wasn't taken because, one State Department official says here, their acts hadn't exceeded an "acceptable level of terrorism." The 1998 African embassy bombings, for instance, could likely have been prevented, according to the authors. The plot is tangled, but through it Miller, Stone and Mitchell follow two threads from 1990 up to September 11, 2001: first, "the cell," actually a series of terrorist cells, beginning with the one responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing a cell that, in one of their most illuminating revelations, the authors trace directly back to El Sayyid Nosair, convicted of murdering Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990. The second thread is the Joint Terrorist Task Force, an FBI/NYPD squad whose sharp and dedicated members are the heroes of this tale, doggedly investigating the cells and their connections when not blocked by higher-ups. Miller, now coanchor of ABC TV's 20/20, scored an interview in 1998 with bin Laden, whose chilling words he repeats here ("You will leave [Saudi Arabia] when the youth send you in wooden boxes and coffins"). Miller, Stone (a noted criminal investigative journalist) and Mitchell (a senior editor at The Week) connect a lot of dots in this frightening and important book.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

9/11 The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon crystallized for Americans a reality already well known in other parts of the world: terrorism exists. This book, authored primarily by Miller, an investigative reporter and coanchor of ABC's 20/20, along with reporter Stone and Mitchell, a senior editor at Week, is a sprightly account of how various American law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the CIA, and New York City's Joint Terrorism Task Force, struggled to identify and prosecute the shadowy band of international terrorists operating within our borders. It is a cloak-and-dagger tale of missed opportunities, turf wars, and confusion that begins with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and culminates in a detailed look at the last months of the hijackers, led by the inscrutable Mohamed el Amir Atta. The authors have interviewed dozens of participants on both sides of this interminable struggle and have produced a useful chronicle of the events that led up to the horrendous attacks. It will take years for all the evidence to come out about how the United States coped with international terrorism at the end of the 20th century. This work represents a good place to start learning about what happened. Recommended for most collections.
Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (August 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786869003
• ISBN-13: 978-0786869008
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars eye-opening but frightening saga August 18, 2002

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

Up front let me apologize for being emotional in this review, as this true account is appalling in what should have been. The book describes the evolution of the 1990s through 9/11 of Bin Laden and the Al Queda that will haunt readers forever. The authors tie events together that show the magnitude of the failure of anti-terrorism efforts under three administrations including the present one. The authors claim several opportunities to stop the terrorists were available, but not acted on, as the threat had not incredulously surpassed the "acceptable level of terrorism". That is the frightening thought that especially Clinton and Bush II (even in his first year) could have done more and saved lives. Official inactivity and incompetence (the Attorney General cut the anti-terrorism funding) and missed opportunities led to irate agents unable to overcome politics as usual under presidents from both political parties.

This book is not for those still raw, as it is quite an eye-opening saga. As the country's powers debate homeland security and claim the high ground, they should read this book first so they cannot sleep better at night. While the President vacations; the Attorney General cries security wolf; the Congress posters to gain reelection; and Clinton rewrites his place in history, perhaps each will finally understand the real goal: no future American should suffer like those who seemed to have died for no reason except politics and incompetence.

Harriet Klausner

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gritty, Fast Paced, Street-Level Account Of The Events Which Led Up To The 911 Attacks. January 21, 2006

By WAYNE YUNGHANS

Format:Hardcover

At the time it was written, the book was a welcome departure from the hurried, slipshod, poorly written works that appeared immediately following 911 (some of them, seemingly written in a bid to benefit from the rising tide of interest engendered by the events of that day...). In any case: this is not one of those books...

This is a well researched and readable account of a complex and multifaceted story.
Not a mere compilation and derivation of others' writings, this story represents the original reporting of three first rate journalists. It arises from first hand interviews / conversations with the NYPD Detectives, FBI Agents and others who were there for the events of 911, some of whom were working the UBL project before that day and several of whom were still working it at the time of writing. It is a testament to the authors' skill that the book flows as well as it does. I found it cogent, interestingly written and informative. It maintained my interest without effort from chapter to chapter as a good detective novel would.

Reading The Cell gives one a good overall understanding of 911 - probably the best available during the period before the 911 Commission Report. I have recommended it to several people and do so via this medium to anyone who looks at 911 and asks the question "How could this happen?" It's an easy, informative read and well worth both the time and money invested.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars page turner September 5, 2006

By R.M.T.

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Informative, yet entertaining...highlights mistakes in policy and intelligence without grinding a political axe. A must read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading June 28, 2004

By H. F. Miglino

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Just finished reading The Cell. If anyone wants to know what went wrong on 9/11 just read this book. To try and blame one person or organization, except for the terrorists, for the death and destruction on 9/11 would be foolish. If the Towers were brought down in 1993 and toppled over each other, the death count would have been well over 100,000. John Miller, Stone and Mitchell do an incredible story detailing the events leading up to 9/11. I don't know the party affliation with any of these men but the story they present is fascinating. The book is summed up the best on page 332; Terrorism is cyclical, left alone it always comes back, usually bolder and more lethal. Additionally the fight against terrorism can't be conducted from afar, it requires in your face old fashion investigation. No matter how many lasers we have, smart bombs, stealth fighters,etc. what we need is 100 Louie Napoli, Don Sadowy and John O'Neils. Book should be required reading for all high school students, never to forget or let your guard down.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping account of how 9/11 happened. December 17, 2005

By Tracy D. Cook

Format:Hardcover

I just finished reading "The Cell" last weekend, and the story just blew my mind! Many of the things recalled in the book were known to me already, based on what I had heard on the news and read in other media outlets, but to see just how easy it was for the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 to be carried out was frightening and very tragic; considering that there were warning signs everywhere. One of the things that came to me was the fact that many of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies responsible for averting what happened on 9/11were either bogged down in bureaucratic red tape or territorial conflicts that threatened to bruise fragile egos. This could be seen from the conflict with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force with other special squads to the inability of the FBI, CIA, and other intelligence agencies to share vital information. What was so frightening and appaling was how easy it was for terrorists to enter this country, purchase weapons and even learn how to fly planes.

The book also gives us the disturbing fact that two adminstrations--one bogged down in partisan politics and a power hungry special counsel trying to pry into the president's sex life, the other somewhat oblivious to what was handed to them by their predecessors (no one still wants to admit that the Clinton adminstration, whom many right wingers still want to pin this tragedy on urged the Bush administration to immediately put in place the action to take out Bin Laden and they didn't, nor the fact that Attorney General Ashcroft refused to grant the request of the FBI to add more funding for antiterrorism)--were totally unprepared for what would happen....

If there was to be a tragic hero in this book it would have to be John O'Neill; the former FBI special agent who headed up the antiterrorist division and eventually due to politics was forced out of the loop. O'Neill came very close to cracking the case and discovering Bin Laden's nefarious plans. The irony of it all was that after he retired, he went to be the head of security at the World Trade Center, where he died shortly after taking the position on September 11.

The book is so relevant considering that we are still recovering from the wounds of 9/11, and the disturbing fact that even after the development of the Homeland Security Administration and the reforms called on by the 9/11commission, we are no safer now than we were before the tragedy took place. I hope that this book will be a reminder and a wake up call to the fact the post Cold-War society we live in is even more dangerous than ever. Read more ›