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Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11 Hardcover – August 1, 2002

by Bill Gertz (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
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New York Times bestselling author Bill Gertz uses his unparalleled access to America's intelligence system to show how this system completely broke down in the years, months, and days leading up to the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Regnery Publishing
  4. Publication date
    August 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0895261480
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0895261489
  8. See all details
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4 out of 5 stars
35 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Hank Lutz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11
    Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    Incredible writer! Gertz explains the many faults of America's so called "Intelligence Agencies" and how everybody wants to blame everybody else. Nobody has the guts to take the hit or be blamed for America's worst slip up of the last 30 years. Gertz digs deep and has many legitimate resources. I also recommend his book, the China Threat!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Terry Fritts
    4.0 out of 5 stars Depressing and not very hopeful
    Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2002
    Verified Purchase
    I thought this book was actually more readable that some of the others on this subject. The organization is different being more agency oriented than chronological and in some ways that is more helpful and certainly provides a different and useful perspective.
    There is little doubt that mature bureaucracies in general live to preserve the bureaucracy rather than serve the original purpose for which they were created. Gertz does a good job of illustrating this point as it relates to the various intelligence agencies. As with most other books I've read on the subject the CIA seems to be the best at this game while dismayingly ineffective in gathering intelligence about enemies.
    Gertz also does a good job discussing the politics of intelligence and tracing the impact on the various agencies over the last 40 years. I thought his criticism of republicans in particular was interesting and compelling.
    At the end Gertz discusses potential improvements. But by that time I was left pretty much convinced that there is probably little hope for these agencies to ever be effective in their missions without complete overhaul and that is unlikely. There is not much favorable about the new homeland security department either.
    If the United States and the American way of life must depend on the Intelligence agencies as convincingly portrayed by Gertz in this book then there is little chance of the oldest democracy surviving another millennium.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Godwin Olivier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Instantly Engrossing, and Well Researched
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2003
    If you need a Washington journalist with access to CIA and intelligence officials and documents, you need Bill Gertz. He has the access and the knowledge, and the trust of the intelligence community.
    The book reads a lot like a Tom Clancy novel, transporting the reader instantly to the rocky hills of Afghanistan, and to the dusty cities of the Middle East, and then back to the paper covered desks of CIA intelligence analysts, and so forth. It names names, and tells stories of all intelligence agencies and intelligence gathering communities. Not just the CIA and the FBI, but the top secret NSA and other bureaus. It talks about the long term degradation of the CIA in particular, intensified by the political machinations of the Clinton administration.
    You find out that thanks to Clinton, the last and best of CIA intelligence agents (that's spies) in Iraq, Robert Baer, was yanked back to the US and his cover shattered because it was brought to Clinton's attention that the NSA intercepted a memo within Iran saying they suspected that America was trying to assassinate Saddam Hussein, and they would rather stop Baer in his tracks than trust the CIA. Of course, Baer was simply staying alive and abreast of events in Iraq, doing a job no one else can do right now, nor will anyone be able to do it.
    That is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg.
    Perhaps we would be able to avoid war in Iraq if our espionage forces were supported these past 12 years. But we have zero "HUMINT" in Iraq and many other places we need it.
    When you are done with this book, you'll be sad to know that George W. Bush, despite his sincere efforts in the war on terror, has not fired Clinton appointee George Tenet, figurehead of the CIA and one of its chief problems, and that no one in the CIA has been held accountable for the gross negligence of September 11th, nevermind Coleen Rowley's attempts to bring the issue to light to the tonedeaf liberal media. However, perhaps reform can be accomplished by Tom Ridge, the new Homeland Security Cabinet officer. Perhaps then, as vigilance has been returned to those affected by 9/11, vigilance and an effective organization will be returned to America's FBI, CIA, INS, and NSA.
    23 people found this helpful
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  • Dayna
    1.0 out of 5 stars Skip this one.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Basically the book blames the Clinton and his administration for 9/11.
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  • Robert H. Allen
    3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2015
    For school.
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  • Dan Fefferman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Head Are Going to Roll!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2002
    Bill Gertz shows again why even his adversaries rate him as America's premier intelligence reporter today. Gertz's expose of the intelligence failures that led up to 9-11 is going to shock the nation and cause some much needed soul searching in our intelligence community.
    The book is written in terse, fact-based prose that often reads like a suspense thriller. Yet it's based on Gertz's solid news reporting experience on the spy and defense beat with the Washington Times, earning him a reputation as the man with the best top-secret leaker's rolodex in Washington.
    Gertz is also a patriot. He takes names, kicks ..., and points the finger squarely at our intelligence agencies' politically correct, risk-averse bureaucatic culture for failing to provide the "human intelligence" necessary to prevent terror attacks. This is a book that delivers. If Gertz's advice is taken, some heads are going to roll, notably that of Clinton holdover George Tenet at CIA. America and the world will probably be a safer place as a result, and our spy networks will get a long overdue new set of teeth.
    38 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Derek Maclean
    5.0 out of 5 stars Published 2002 covers intelligence failures to that date
    Reviewed in Canada on June 24, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Most interesting book. Shows intelligence failures beginning with the Carter administration to GW Bush.
    Complete lack of intelligence info sharing between CIA,FBI,DIA,NSA. Shows more about power tripping, personal feuds, old boys clubs, rather than studying our enemies and developing proper counter intelligence doctrines.
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