"A good book to read if you want an answer to the question, 'What happened?' That is, what happened to the idealistic Obama of the 2008 campaign who was going to shut down Guantánamo, end indefinite detention, try terrorist suspects in civilian courts, take civil liberties more seriously, and end the rabid secrecy of the Bush era? How did he turn into the guy who not only didn't do any of that stuff, but became a drone-obsessed killing machine in the process?"
—Kevin Drum, Mother Jones


"Divulge(s) the details of top-level deliberations—details that were almost certainly known only to the administration's inner circle. Likely to be the most thorough accounts of America's recent national-security efforts that we shall receive before the November election."
—The Wall Street Journal

How has President Obama waged the global war on terror? With one hand tied behind his back and the other dealing death sentences to hundreds of individuals around the world

Based on hundreds of interviews with men and women throughout the White House and the national security establishment, Kill or Capture is the most revealing and important book yet about the Obama presidency. Bringing readers inside the Oval Office, the Situation Room, the CIA, and other sensitive compartmentalized information facilities (SCIFFs), Dan Klaidman offers a startling new portrait of our forty-fourth president. While President Obama allows his team of rivals to battle endlessly to the point of White House shouting matches, Oval Office end runs, and constant confusion about the president s inclinations the president has quietly transformed into one of the most lethal and involved deciders in our history. He has personally reviewed countless targets of drone strikes, approving or vetoing killings on a case-by-case basis. He has overseen a transformation from warfare to lawfare, whereby lawyers throughout the administration are setting military policy, reviewing operations, and vetting the decisions of the top brass. He has intentionally placed limits on his own power, saying such things as, You never know whether Mitt Romney is going to be president four years from now. I have to think about how someone like Mitt Romney would use that power.

The toll on his staff and cabinet secretaries has been extraordinary. Attorney General Eric Holder wanted to quit in 2010, only to be told by Valerie Jarrett that he simply could not. Many of the idealists who came to Washington in hopes of rolling back the policies of the Bush administration have accomplished little aside from banging their heads against walls, and have departed in defeat. The political operatives who refer to themselves as Tammany Hall including Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, and their successors have made life extremely difficult in the West Wing.

Kill or Capture reveals the two faces of President Obama: the constitutional lawyer-in-chief, and the cold-blooded killer.