An excellent book. Mr. Soufan has an excellent grasp of the art of speaking with "bad guys". Some will disagree, but this is an excellent model/methodology for military, intelligence and law enforcement to adopt in many circumstances. One thing I found somewhat unsettling is the political responses to many of the situations. While the political machine need be involved in policy, they should leave the execution of certain actions to professionals; be they Law Enforcement, intelligence or military. Another glaring point is the need for cross collaboration verses territorialism. I highly recommend this book, it is an excellent read. One thing I would recommend is looking at the pages in the back to understand the players. A relationship diagram would have been extremely helpful

This is a great book, written thoughtfully and carefully from someone who witnessed and participated in efforts to understand and investigate the existing threats before and after 9/11. I both read the book and listened to the audio book.
I highly recommend both, it is well written, personal, heartfelt as well as objective and analytical.
The "blank" and "redacted" passages, which in some sections of the book are 1) distracting because they are so numerous and 2)humorous at times because the reader/listener can at times figure out some of what (especially when it was a reference to an individual) was removed anyway and some are things that are already part of the public record, are ridiculous but just another example of our important intelligence agencies being obstructionist and petty and not playing well with one another. The author does a good (and diplomatic, in my opinion) job of explaining why, after the manuscript had already been vetted and approved by everyone he was required to have do that, he accepted these requested reductions by an agency that had no right to demand them, but left the blank or blacked out passages there so the reader can SEE how much and what is missing from his original. These also make listening to the audio book a little distracting, the words "blank" and "redacted" repeatedly interrupting the flow in places and making one wish in frustration for the original text.
There is not another book that I am aware of that gives the same perspective and detail about many of these events as this one. It at times will make the reader furious at the red tape, bureaucratic hand wringing and lack of cooperation between agencies and government services that should work together and be on the same side. How the author maintained his sanity through some of this is inexplicable, it would drive lesser men to madness.
But, I highly recommend the book, it should be required reading for all who want to better understand what lead up to 9/11 and what happened after.

Update December 2016

With the election of Donald Trump and the incredible spread of ISIS which now extends from Central Africa to the Chinese border and Stockholm to Indonesia to Manila to Los Angeles to Orlando there's bound to be some major shifts in US policy from the top to the bottom. This book should be on every policymakers and commentators must read list in order to more competently interpret both the threats and the potential strategies and policies.

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This is a must read for every citizen with an interest in this critical subject. Most of us who are interested in the area are subject to the mini specials and talking head babble which imparts no real wisdom or books with a more limited vision. The Black Banners is detailed, visionary and written from the view of someone who really knows the subject but is not trying to defend either himself or some political view.

Probably the greatest takeaway is the potential effectiveness of a skilled interrogator working without the "enhanced techniques". The author makes a highly convincing case that skill triumphs over blunt force. I'm also reminded of James Stockdale's writing (In Love and In War) on his years of torture in N Vietnamese prisons. The prisoners came to realize that most anything could be tortured out of them but that the goal was to provide as little as possible in each session and to include some misleading information. Stockdale was also very clear that he would not allow himself to be captured again.

The book focuses on the author's participation in many of the investigations and the frustrations of working with the CIA and Whitehouse on many occasions. I think the book fails to cover the many problems within the FBI leading up to 9-11 including he obsession with prosecutions , perhaps at the expense of prevention, the corruption within the FBI where very senior officials were promoted after obstructing investigations and the all too close relationship between the FBI and Clinton whitehouse. The exclusion of these issues from the book appears to be more related to what the author was doing rather than any attempt to cover the events. The memos from field agents pleading for help from HQ to investigate potential terrorist flight training and others asking for assistance in obtaining warrants to search computers document the failures.

The first 1/3 of the book is well worth the price of the whole book.

If there is a downside it is the heavy hand of the censors and the redacted material. While I chafe at the deletions and such, I appreciate that immense value of what may seem to many to be harmless scraps of information regarding what we knew, how we gather information and how we process information.

In retrospect I believe most of us are pained at the emphasis on development of evidence for prosecution rather than collection of intelligence to identify and eliminate threats.

The writing is refreshingly clear and focused. Perhaps it reflects the years spent in the preparation of briefing and action memos. The drama comes from the facts presented, not an excess of words.

I originally borrowed the book from the Santa Monica library but before I returned it I ordered a copy from Amazon to keep as a reference.

Highly recommended

Once upon a time, Americans believed that we would never torture, that it was better to let the hypothetical bomb go off than to shred the national soul and debase the nation. Once, we believed that questioning under duress gave false information. Once, we thought that we had to operate within our laws, no matter how inconvenient they were. Amazingly, this philosophy worked, and it made our intelligence better. That whole fabric was shredded by David Addington and his allies in two hours in Washington, D.C., and there was an assumption without evidence that the most vicious means must be the best, that the most evil methods must be most effective.

Ali Soufan not only indicts the horror of the "dark side," but he gives a bullet proof case for the American method of respecting law. Can we put the devil back in the bottle? Will we ever have credibility again? Whether or not we do, Ali Soufan's book shows us the context, and the value of context, of American interactions with terrorism and the value of old fashioned human intelligence and human checks on inhuman impulses.