Agency-securities Books

The idea of bouncing to each perspective during the book-long man hunt is interesting and enjoyable. There just isn't much suspense, because it is all so predictable. If you like spy thrillers, you might like this book, but you won't be surprised at any point... except when you spot the few errors and wonder how they weren't caught before it was published.

This book reminds me of the first Tom Clancy book I ever read! I couldn't believe that all the details of what must have been highly classified material at one time were actually appearing in a novel. The vivid descriptions and intriguing characters add to the exciting plot in this rich novel. I couldn't put it down, once I started reading.

Jack O'Neill has certainly made his mark on the techno-thriller genre!

Echelon has a very interesting plot. I picked it up because I am interested about government eavesdropping: echelon, carnivore Magic Lantern, Rapid Start. However, there are too many unnecessary scenes and dialogues (such that in Chapter 14) that took away from what could have been a very good story; too many characters that I didn't care about; too many names to remember. I got to know Carolyn and Janet more than I would like and I thought they are behaving like little girls. Sarah's behavior, the wife of Michael Stone (the main character) just makes me mad. I wish she has more compassion and trust to her CIA husband. Again, this story has a very good and promising plot. But I think I would have enjoyed it better if it is written by David Baldacci or Joseph Finder, Michael Connelly, even David Morrell or Sue Grafton.

While the tech and political in-fighting pieces are interesting, the writing is not. I'm sorry, this author is obviously a tech guy who wanted to branch out or show what is happening in the intelligence gathering world by creating a fictional tale, but wow. The writing is stilted, the dialoge is painful and the author doesn't have a grasp (yet?) of relating internal discussions. Just not an easy book to read as the writing keeps getting in the way.
Still, the story is good. The characters, for the most part are believable and the pace is decent.
I just can't say "run out and buy it".

I bought this book because Amazon 'suggested' I would like it after looking up Daemon by Leinad Zeraus. As an aside, Daemon is a great/highly entertaining book. This however is not. I am half way through and am forcing myself to swallow the medicine to finish. I may not. The characters are two dimensional/cookie cutters that could be found left on the floors of a choose your own adventure chop shop. The plot had promise, but too many boring character background deviations have pulled away from what seemed interesting - the government's abilities, technologies, and abuses with eavesdropping of any kind. That is sadly a sidenote to a high school level writing exercise. I may be a bit harsh - if I had picked this up out of the blue, it would probably have gotten 3 stars. Since I came off of reading a much better book - and this seemed recommended by like minds, I was let down farther.

Yes Mr. Burrough made a few mistakes with addresses and name spellings but overall I was impressed with how he made all the information flow together so well. This was a huge task to take on and I was surprised how good of a job was done. I did have to dock a star due to the amount Mr. Burrough relied on Alvin Karpis's word for word retelling of events that happened so long ago- it gives the book a bit of a fiction feel to it at times. Overall this was a very good read.

This book has a lot of details and is very good. Don't expect this book to tell you lots and lots about the gangsters of the era... it's more of a detailed account of the FBI and how they got organized. Again, lots of details, making it slow reading, but very good material!

This is a great book. Author infers in his introduction that this was a labor of love and it shows in his writing. At over 500 pages, it shows the relationship of the five major criminal gangs of the 1933-34 time period. Those were the Barker Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson, and Dillenger. With the exception of Bonnie and Clyde (who were strictly small time), all knew each other and helped in raids. None of these people were glamourous since they all murdered people. Dillenger killed three policemen. Bonnie, Clyde, and Baby Face Nelson were psychopaths. Why people had admiration for them is beyond me, but the times were hard and many felt banks were as crooked as those who robbed them.

This book also details the rise of the FBI and how Hoover interferred with the progress of investigations. Purvis was mildly incompetent. Why some of these gangsters roomed the streets was due to FBI leads not being followed up. In the end, the FBI became more professional due to this crime wave. Hoover went on to become the Crime Dictator for forty years.

This is a great book and is very readable. For those interested in the Great Depression and the fall of the bank robbers, this is a treasure trove of information. Highly recommended.

A very interesting book. Let's you know exactly what happens back in the old days. Good reading.

For history buffs, this is a find! I could not put this book down! WoW, loaded, just packed with information on the PUBLIC ENEMIES! With all the fuss now, with Johnny Depp starring in Public Enemies, based on this book, I am sure this will be THE book everyone will have to read. The movie is coming out in 2009. Filmed in the Midwest; Wisconsin, Indiana, etc, and even at Little Bohemia, in Northern Wisconsin, where the Feds goofed up bigtime and J.Edgar Hoover covered, or at least tried to cover up their blunder, when innocent citizens were gunned down, instead of the "gangstas". You will love this, you won't want the book to end, it covers all of them, Johhny Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Ma Barker and her gang, Machine Gun Kelly. It's all here, and of course, Bonnie and Clyde. You will be right at the scenes, even when they met their bloody early demise, and most of them went out shooting their tommy guns. The author did a magnificent job of researching his subjects. You won't be disappointed spending a weekend reading this one!

This book received very little attention when it was first published, no doubt because of the subject matter. The author tells in detail how individuals in the State Department and CIA, as well as other government beaurocrats, undermined the George W. Bush administration from Day One of the first term. Timmermann bravely gives names and cites proof of perfidy and downright treason. I purchased another copy to share with friends and family members, because I don't want to take a chance that my original hardback would get lost.

Shadow Warriors is a "Must Read" for anyone who respects honesty about the US political situation over the last 8 years.
To say that the deliberate sabatoge of the Bush Administration by our own CIA and State Department, as well as Democrats in Congress has disenfranchised the voters of the 2000 and 2004 elections is an understatement, and has put our country at serious risk.
Well researched and documented, this book names names and cites specific actions which more than qualify for the classification of "Treason".
Anyone who ventures to prosit an opinion about the Bush administration must be able to correlate it to the contents of this book before they get any kind of credability.
This book will make you angry, but hopefully in a way that leads to a more informed electorate. If we do not find a way to stop the bureaucrats and liberals from their current modus-operendi, we surely risk repeating the "fall of Rome".
Ken Wright

there is a scary battle from which we are hidden. if only a fraction of this book is true, I am scared and worried about this country.

While taking into consideration that most people who write tell-all books have a particular point of view, I found this book very interesting. As these events are recent and I follow the news fairly closely, I was able to compare the information presented here to my own memory. This book demonstrates what I already knew, that not all those in government service have in mind what is best for our country, but that which serves their own particular agenda. Thanks to these, we have had a tough go of it in Iraq and but for our President, we would have seen dire consequences. Unfortunately, those consequences are still possible. Recommend reading this book and paying attention to our ever-dangerous world.

Shadow Warriors is biased. How could it not be? The author, who is known for his scrutiny and meticulous research is biased towards those that would, and did, advance their political agenda ahead of the good of their country. Further, it is clear that in some extreme cases of borderline treason that Timmerman clearly and definitively chronicles, lives of our soldiers may have been lost due to the actions of the Shadow Warriors. This cabal of fervent anti-Bush operatives are every bit as dangerous as the terrorists that we face today. The information contained in Shadow Warriors is well organized, chronologically laid out, and fully subnoted. But the reason I approve of this book, and recommend it, is that it is based on researched fact of the events that brought the Bush Administration to it's knees in Iraq.
During the debacles of the senate 9/11 hearings, the farce surrounding the contemptible Joe Wilson and his posturing non-covert wife Valerie Plame which ended up in a lame prosecution of Scooter Libby, it was clear to anyone paying attention the Richard Clarke, George Tenet, and particularly Joseph Wilson were of dubious character. They were egotistical, contradictory, and disingenous. After reading the scheming and manipulating from seriously notorious political operatives within the internal sewer that is the CIA, it is clear why political neophytes Colin Powell and George Bush never really understood the danger in leaving the Clintonista's unchecked and in power within the agency. By the time Porter Goss is sent in to clean up the agency, the damage done by Tyler Drumheller in particular is immense and irrepairable. This book chronicles mistake after mistake in letting an agenda driven cabal within our own government take down a well-meaning, but gullible, President. I would recommend that those that wish to believe this book is all conservative spin and an attempt to prop up GWB, read more of Timmerman's work, The China Threat (Bill Gertz), and See No Evil by Bob Baer. Baer's account of the destruction from within during the latter Clinton years is related from a career CIA middle-east operative who leaves reluctantly as the political power seekers wrest control from those that at one time knew how to run the agency. It squares nicely with Timmerman's work.

Even though this work is clearly against the anti-Bush Administration cabal, Timmerman represents Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Goss as hopelessly inept in dealing with the level of malevolence from many individuals who in previous decades would have been found guilty of treason, and very likely executed. Their is no attempt to produce a "Bush =Good, Clintonista's=Bad" atmosphere in this book. It is simply critical of those who played politics instead of doing their jobs as public servants.

The performance of the media as willing accomplices to the Shadow Warriors is enough to assure you would never buy another copy of anything related to the Mainstream Media. It also paints an accurate picture of the real Carl Levin who is clearly a senator who should be voted out of office at the first opportunity. Levin is a menace to the the security of the USA.

All in all, this is a fast read, similar to a Lee Child, Vince Flynn, or David Hagberg fictional novel, but it will anger you viscerally as it leaves no doubt that our country has been damaged, and in some cases intentionally so, simply to bring down this administration who in comparison to the Shadow Warriors is almost pollyannish. The true evildoers threatening our country are the elitists playing political games within our defense agencies while the good men and women of our fighting forces pay for their amusements and political agendas with their lives.

Final thought after reading this book? Eradicate the CIA and completely rebuild the agency. It is dysfunctional and beyond repair.

This was just OK for me ... I was expecting something a bit more exciting. His story was interesting, but it felt a little forced, especially on his investigative trips that felt more like a paper-pusher wanting to be more. I thought he did a great job relating the day-to-day stress that these agents live everyday, and the effects on their family life. It makes you appreciate what you don't know is done for your security.

I was very moved by the book, and the stories of how counter-terror work began with just 3 guys in a basement, and all of the difficulties encountered in trying to prepare a sleeping America for a new an ugly enemy.

Fred Burton: Straight laced American
First off fantastic book with great insight into the job for the state department. Pretty much just history and nothing post 9/11 but keeping that in your mind while you read it allows you to understand just how much we missed and why.

Fred Burton the author and star of this work is a straight laced American. He is nothing like the rouge 007's of the world and that makes him great in my book. He was not a field agent so that makes it difficult to compare but if you line him up next to Robert Baer, former CIA- Counter Terrorism, you will see they are very different. Burton is a give it all, work is life, patriot and the United States needs more men like him. All and all great book and if you are looking for a true to life James Bond thriller you have come to the wrong place.

NOTE**
Robert Baer is a great American and a Patriot he has served his country well and with distinction. His novel(s) and works of non-fiction are fantastic and somewhat on the lines of a James Bond novel, so if that is what you are looking for, there you go, Enjoy I know I did.

Very much enjoyed reading this book, no it is not like a Robert Ludlum or John LeCarre novel. It is a true testament to the real American Heroes who tread into dark and dangerous places and situations that most of us would fear to go. What stands out here is the dedication and patriotism of these men and woman, who, though obviously highly skilled and intelligent choose a life of sacrifice and service over money and fame. They seek to protect the rest of us from horrors that we can barely appreciate, while often suffering the criticism from the ill informed. The big payoff if they are killed in the line of duty is an anonymous gold star on a wall at Langley. I would hope more people read this book if only to understand that it is a dangerous world in which we live, and perhaps, if only for a moment, take a break from American Idol and Monday Night Football to appreciate these American public servants.

OK. After glancing at the excellent reviews, I probably will continue to read this book. I am giving a rating only because posting the review requires it. In fact, I haven't finished the book. But what caused me to leave the book to see what others thought of it is this:
On page 30, upon Burton's entering the CIA headquarters for the first time, I read "" ... a statue of Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War spy who went to a British hangman's noose with the immortal words 'Give me liberty or give me death' on his lips."
Give me liberty or give me death? Those are certainly immortal words! Nathan Hale? It's been quite a while since I took American history, but that quote is attributed to Patrick Henry. Hale is remembered for the words "I regret that I have but one life to give to my country."
So what made me pause in my reading - and write this - is that I am perplexed. Did Burton dredge up an inaccurate memory? Worse, might that what is actually written somewhere in the mysterious places of the CIA. Or, finally, is the Random House editor a little deficient in his/her American history, to let this error slip by?
I know, I know, some will same I'm picky. But it's so wrong that it stopped my reading dead in it's tracks. Has that passage caused any other readers at least a short pause?
Well, as I said above, because of the excellent reviews the book has received her, I will return to it and continue my reading.

Reading the memoir of a man who helped take down Carlos the Jackal, one of the most notorious terrorists of then 1970s, seemed to make for roller-coaster read. Unfortunately, Carlos didn't go down like Pablo Escobar. He was arrested; no gunfight, no car chase, no hostage crisis, no time bomb. While the book certainly is interesting for its historical significance, Waugh's "action" in taking down Carlos was sitting in an abandoned building for hours upon hours and days upon days just watching the Jackal's house.

The book also includes some of Waugh's other career highlights, including going into Afghanistan in 2001 in his 70s. I don't want to discredit Waugh's service, certainly he's done more than most, and the book isn't necessarily unenjoyable; maybe let's just say it's a good thing it's not any longer than it is. Some parts are page-turners, most are not. If you like this book genre, you'll like this book. Otherwise, skip it.

Billy Waugh takes you through almost 50 years of life in the Special Forces and CIA. Although the title focuses on Carlos the Jackal, he is actually a small part of the book.

Since I am approaching 50, it's hard to imagine being 72 and running around in Afganistan. That's downright inspirational. This part of Waugh's life is mentioned several times in Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen.

A fascinating story.

Great book. The title is deceiving though there is little about Carlos. The actual capture of Carlos is also somewhat anticlimactic. Overall though, it's an exciting read about the life of a special forces warrior. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoy stories of war and espionage. One thing is for sure...Billy Waugh is a hero!

I found the book readable and informative. It was written in a narative that was easily followed. Information that will be of value to those that follow the current state of the world.

Great book....easy to read. Lacks substantial and detailed operational insight probably due to confidentiality. Overall a great book by a great American.

This book provides some good information about the events leading up to 9/11 but nothing so new that it is a revelation. It fails when the Bush bashing and hindsight bias starts. If Graham is going to bash Bush that is fine but he should also bash Clinton for all of his documented failures for neutralizing bin Laden. Graham talks about all the missed opportunities to prevent 9/11 but fails to mention, even once, how Bill Clinton could have prevented 9/11. Graham seems to "connect dots" after the fact which is the easy part. Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around regarding the events of 9/11. The FBI, CIA, Republicans and Dems can all take some blame. Let us keep one thing in mind. THERE HAS NOT BEEN ONE ATTACK ON THE U.S. SINCE 9/11! While any failure of the intel community is tragic we only hear of the failures of the intelligence community but we do not hear of the successes.

Nearly every page is riveting. Highly readable account of the missed opportunities before and after 9/11 and the failed Iraqi War. Senator Graham's expertise is validated by the fact that all his predictions about Iraq and al-Qaeda from 2004 when the book was published are now reality. He even broaches the subject of impeachment at a time when Bush was riding high and on the way to reelection.

The good senator doesn't pull punches. Intelligence Matters is full of shocking revelations of Saudi funding of 9/11 hijackers, numerous instances of the FBI and CIA not seeing the forest for the trees, and the Bush administration's obsession with Iraq blinding them to the immediate threat of the greatest attack on our homeland since Pearl Harbor.

A highly patriotic and useful account of the latest greatest challenges to our nation's survival. We overcame a civil war and defeated ruthless enemies from different continents in WWII, but are we prepared to win a global jihad, one that could last well into this century and involve dangerous weapons falling in the hands of stateless terrorists willing to martyr themselves for a cause? As Sen. Graham relates, we're off to a troubling start.

It's hardly reassuring that a man with such a grasp on foreign policy isn't still in the throes of power directing our response. What a missed opportunity that Sen. Graham, who never lost an election in Florida during his nearly 40 years as an elected official and briefly ran for president in 2004, wasn't at least selected for VP.

By the way, the double-entendre in the title is apparent, although I can think of a third possible interpretation - can you? [Hint: Think 'intelligence' in terms of our woefully feeble leader.]

Very educational, and well presented for the lay reader.

Although slightly partisan and carrying a slight self-congradulatory tone in parts, this is a fairly good presentation of the facts. His recommendations are well-thought and should be given serious consideration.

I just happened to run into Bob Graham today in western Maryland. He wouldn't answer my question-- "Just what were you and the Pakistani Intelligence Chief talking about in DC on the day of 9/11 and for another week thereafter?" Remember that General Ahmad was the guy who supposedly wired $100,000 to the so-called lead high jacker Mohammad Atta just before 9/11. You remember, the guy whose passport they "just happened" to find intact amid the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center.


When I mentioned to Graham that a Boeing 737 airliner traveling at 400 mpg cannot physically get any closer than 60 or 70 ft above the ground because of the tremendous up-draft, and that the U.S. government wants us to believe that a Boeing 737 literally skimmed the surface of the earth for a half mile at 400 mph before smashing into the Pentagon at ground level-- Graham just sat there looking in another direction and did not comment.


This guy is just another propagandist trying to steer people away from the truth of a joint U.S. and Israeli Intelligence black operation, and toward the "safe" and "feel good" conclusion of "Intelligence failures" relating loosely to the Saudis. Hey folks, the Saudis don't control U.S. corporate media and this massive disinformation campaign--the CIA and the ADL (the U.S. arm of Israeli Intelligence) control U.S. corporate media.


There are plenty of other books available which will give you an ACCURATE picture of what happened before, on , and after 9/11. To name just a few: "The Road to 9/11" by Peter Dale Scott; "Crossing the Rubicon" by Michael C. Ruppert; "War and Globalisation: The Truth Behind September 11" by Michel Chossudovsky; and "The War on Freedom" by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed.


This Bob Graham guy is just another member of the top 1% American fascist class. It's like a big organized crime syndicate. The Democrats are the Gambino family and the Republicans are the Genovese family and the real brains behind the syndicate are in Israel.

I have read this book cover to cover & I've read all 24 reviews. I don't doubt the intellect of any of these authors. It's apparent that Senator Graham is a noble American patriot & that the reviews of this book have expressed serious concerns.

Senator Graham points out 12 INSTANCES before 9/11 in which the 9/11 plot could have been discovered. He points out that at least one alleged hijacker was being housed by an FBI informant. (The FBI DENIED SENATOR GRAHAM ACCESS TO THIS INFORMANT FOR QUESTIONING!.) He describes the circumstances under which Arizona FBI Agent, Kenneth Williams, a seasoned 10-yr terrorism veteran wrote a memo, now known as the Phoenix Memo, in July of 2001 to the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters. Declassified segments are quoted beginning on page 44, "The purpose of this communication is to advise the bureau [headquarters] and New York of the possibility of a coordinated effort by Usama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges. Phoenix has observed an inordinate number of individuals of investigative interest who are attending or who have attended civil aviation universities and colleges in the state of Arizona...". Agent Williams included 4 specific recommendations as to what to do about it. On August 7, 2001 the intelligence operations specialists decided that this lead should be closed with no action taken.

In excruciating detail Senator Graham tells the story of Zacarious Moussaoui and how suspicions of him at the Pan Am International Flight Academy were so acute, that authorities notified the FBI on only the 2nd day of Moussoui's training. Yet permission to search Moussoui's computer was denied. Incredibly Senator Graham tells us about the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Brief received by President Bush entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.", and that Bush did nothing with the warning.

Senator Graham tells of the lies he was told by Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, the intelligence agencies, the White House, as well as many instances of stonewalling and deceit. Senator Graham tells of hearing personally from Tommy Franks that only 4 months after the Afghanistan invasion, the military resources were redeployed to Iraq (February of 2002) quoting Franks as saying, "This is not a War on Terror, this is a manhunt".. Senator Graham tells us that most of the deficiencies in our national security remain, as of the time his book went to press, broken and unfixed despite increased budgets for counterterrorism. The most revealing comment in the entire book is on page 202, "...the more we learned, the less curious the administration seemed about what had happened on September 11". And, "the more discoveries we made, the more the administration's obstructionism intensified." And page 166, "...the White House was directing the cover-up."

And then, we're all supposed to believe that these ignorant incompetent intelligence agencies were able to come up with the identities of all 19 alleged hijackers just hours after the attacks. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

THERE'S MORE. Despite all the death and horror and destruction on 9/11-all attributed to "intelligence failures", senator Graham discovers, as disclosed on page 113, "It amazes me to this day that no one-not one single person-has been held accountable for the intelligence and other lapses that contributed to the failure to inderdict the attack...it is important that people be held accountable. None have been."

Unfortunately, the investigative committee on which Senator Graham co-chaired was NOT equipped with a "smell test". Based on the voluminous examples of administration malfeasance related to 9/11, Senator Graham's conclusions simply do NOT make sense. Therefore, they must be rejected!

We all have our own internal evaluation process in determining what does and what does not make sense. And at some point what is perceived as incredulous ignorance & gross incompetence becomes so overwhelming that one has to realize that explaining everything away as ignorance & incompetence is itself ignorance & incompetence.

You see people, all of the findings of Senator Graham makes perfect sense! The problem is HIS CONCLUSIONS DO NOT MATCH HIS FINDINGS! Therefore, the round hole premise in which he is trying to hammer his square peg of findings MUST BE CHANGED! Since the intelligence agencies lied to Senator Graham and his investigative committee about everything else, doesn't it make sense that they also lied about the identities of those responsible for the 9/11 attacks? And sure enough, soon after 9/11, various sources in the foreign press (obviously such stories are supressed in the U.S.) were reporting that at least 6 of the alleged 19 hijackers were still alive and well! (The BBC reported that Waleed Al Shehri is protesting his innocence from Casablanca, Morroco). It's been discovered that there were NO Arab names on any of the flight passenger lists. The USA Today reported that Osama bin Laden denied 9/11 involvement, AND the December, 2001 Osama "confession video" has been proven to be a fraud.

So there you have it America. Google "9/11 Truth" and you will see that nothing you have been told about the attack is true. And then ask Keane and Hamilton how they could be so void of conscious as to play along with such skullduggery in their 9/11 Commission Propaganda Report. We have lost our country, folks, and our gutless and clueless congress is worthless to a democracy.

You see people, despite all of Senator Graham's findings, it never occurred to him that the intelligence agencies were all working fine and were in tip top shape as they made sure that all 19 hijacker patsies were going about their business of building a "terror" legend and were NOT in custody on 9/11. These agencies were not born yesterday and they know that a little "international" flavor will create more distance from U.S. complicity (Pakistan's ISI had also funded $100,000 to Mohammed Atta.) Disinformation & propaganda is their specialty and accountability is not part of their charter. And in the end, the power of our intelligence agencies lies not in their ability to get away with secrets, but rather their power lies in their ability to get away with...murder...

New president Obama needs to read this book. After 31 years in government i finally found someone who tells it like it is. That person is Richard Clarke. He has insights that i have known for years but never been able to confirm about some political appointees and their cronies. He also knows the career civil servant well. Washington is a place full of deceit and executive criminal behavior. Reading this book is excellent perparation for that duty. If you want to know what works in national security policy and what does not then read this book. Mr Clarke's blind spot is that he was never in the military. Other than that i find him on target in every aspect of his comments.

I'm not one to read political books, but after seeing Richard on an interview, I felt I had to read this book. And I was in for a shock. Not since THE SHINING have I ever read a more horrifying book. The monsters in this book are REAL and you can see how evil people rise to power by reading this book. Yes, real evil. We've all been under its influence because real evil rises to power skillfully and blinds people to not seeing the truth. Thankfully, Clarke tells us all what we need to hear to shed light on the darkness that set the world against us as we dropped the ball of our original vision. Congrats Richard--this is an amazing work!

After every chapter, I had to put this book down, and complain to my wife at how depressing Richard Clarke's description our national security apparatus was. Although we have the most elaborate system of information gathering and analysis in the world, in the end the product of the system is group-think, result oriented political fodder - insufficient to detect, let alone prevent attacks (internal and external) to our national security. Although Mr. Clarke offers concrete, real world solutions, because the system is run by neophyte political appointees, and entrenched, underpaid civil servants, there is simply no hope for reform. The writing is clear, and engaging, but the topic is thoroughly disheartening.

My one criticism is that Mr. Clarke seems to brush aside the need for anonymity on the web in the name of national security, with little regard to the plight of whistle blowers, and those in oppressive regimes who use the web as a safe outlet for communication..

This book takes an uncompromising look at the inability of the government to prevent security and intelligence failures, like those that occurred before 9/11.

Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the US Army had no counter-insurgency strategy. Part of the reason was to not resurrect unpleasant memories from Vietnam, and part of the reason was the absolute belief among top officials of the Bush Administration that it would not be needed, that the US troops would be greeted as liberators. It wasn't until four years into the war that General Petraeus was asked to put together a counter-insurgency strategy.

In Iraq, there is a nearly equal number of US troops and civilian contractors. There is a similar ratio between government and private intelligence analysts here in America. The author thinks that should change, now. Analysis should be brought back under government control. Analysts also have no access to public sources of information. Some public bit of information may be all that is needed to, for instance, turn a satellite photo into a photo of secret missile bases.

The author also feels that the percentage of ambassadorships and high-level defense and security jobs available to big political contributors and former elected officials should be reduced by a lot; those jobs belong to the professionals. Other countries are better than America at getting human spies on the "inside." That part of the US intelligence business should be downsized, and America should focus on the technical part of intelligence gathering. But, America needs to resist the temptation to launch more and more sophisticated satellites into orbit, when a simpler satellite will do the job.

Clarke feels that the next major battleground will be in cyberspace. The current staff of the Office of Management and Budget working on federal IT security is 2 people. That should be increased to more like 200 people, and they should get the clout to force agencies to take proper security precautions.

Clarke has spent many years in high government positions, so he knows what he is talking about. Here is a fascinating, and eye-opening, book that will help to explain large parts of recent US foreign policy.

Clarke Identifies the Problems/Failures of government, the solutions, and how to get to the solutions. From somebody who was in the middle of it and is as intelligent as he is, what more do you need?

Wow, has my opinion changed radically after reading this book! No, I still do not believe that the US government took part in orchestrating the 9/11 attacks. Not because I doubt that they would intentionally sacrifice American lives for profit (if you still don't believe that then I only have two words for you: Iraq Invasion), but simply because they "couldn't" do it.
However, I have no doubt that something is being covered up. In truth, I don't see why a "9/11 truth movement" even needed to be formed. From day one there was widespread belief that we were not being told the truth. This is hardly a radical or revolutionary thought.
Additionally, my opinion of Griffin has been heightened. Here, I see him doing what EVERY responsible American should be doing: asking questions about a tragic event that has affected so many lives.
By not presenting alternate theories, Griffin proves his cases. Two contradictory statements about each aspect have been said. They can't both be true, so one of them is false (whether the source is lying or just wrong is up to the reader).
With this logic, there is little doubt that Griffin's claims deserve attention. After reading this and Jesse Ventura's "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me" I decided to at least be a little more open minded to what the truth movement has to say. You don't have to believe every theory they propose (I sure don't) in order to recognize that their view point is worth hearing as well.
That there are glaring omissions in what we have been told about 9/11 there can be no doubt. Griffin here wakes us up to that point, and we have a responsibility as citizens to take notice. Of course, Griffin and the truth movement are ultimately goign to disagree with me about the implications of these omissions and about, as Griffin puts it in "Debunking 9/11 Debunking" "the nature of what the government is lying about", but, hey, let's let this truce last as long as it may and work together as responsible citizens.

Why buy this book?

1. If you believe the cause of the demolition of three skyscrapers was a conspiracy of Arab amateur pilots who flew planes into two of them.

2. If you know that story can't be true, and are looking for an intelligent, objective, scientific investigation of it.

3. If you've seen every video and read every book about what really happened on 9/11. By impartially exploring the facts of just 25 of the many contradictions in official 9/11 testimonies and alibis, Griffin exposes both the extent of U. S. Government corruption, incompetence, and complicity in the attacks, as well as the complete failure of its censored, controlled "official" reports -- more unassailably and completely than any single work has exposed it so far.

People have been asking some of the book's 25 questions for years, e.g.: "How did Rudy Giuliani know in advance that the towers were going to collapse?" (Griffin points out, "Had the [9/11] Commission investigated and reported on this issue, it could have answered, at least partially, the question as to the source of this foreknowledge. Information relevant to this question is contained in the oral histories recorded by the Fire Department of New York." Though the 9/11 Commission's report neglects it, this book does follow the trail of those oral histories to shed some light on the puzzle of Giuliani's foreknowledge that the buildings would collapse when the architecture, engineering, emergency, and firefighting experts who were there that morning believed it was impossible, and Dr. Griffin concludes "Congress and the press need to do what the 9/11 Commission failed to do: Ask Giuliani what he and his people in the OEM knew that other people did not know.")

This book also raises questions that haven't yet occurred even to most of the better-informed, e.g.: "Where was General Richard Myers that day?" Myers was the highest-ranking military officer at the Pentagon on 9/11. Griffin points out that "Dozens of people would surely know where he was that morning. And yet, we have been given two radically different accounts of his whereabouts."

Others: "Had 9/11-Type attacks been envisioned by members of the Bush Administration?" "Is there hard evidence of bin Laden's responsibility for the attacks?" "What caused the hole in the C-Ring of the Pentagon?" All followed by systematic analyses of the contradictory answers that no official report has yet addressed.

Questions this book doesn't explicitly ask, but sure makes you wonder about:

Q: How could a terrorist attack of such colossal proportions have been committed anywhere, let alone in the most militarized part of the most militarized country in the world? (A: The terrorists were not foreigners, and the attack was a crime by United States citizens rather than an act of war by enemies of the United States.)

Q: How could the people who committed these crimes have even dreamed them up, or helped cover them up, and had such confidence that they'd never be held accountable? (A: Perhaps they believe, and have been taught to believe and allowed to believe, that they're smarter and more entitled to privilege than the rest of us, who are perceived as vastly gullible, controllable, and powerless.)

Q: What were the people who committed these crimes thinking? How could the conscience of any human being justify planning and carrying out such evil? (A: Maybe the prospect of increasing personal riches and power, and belief that gullible, controllable, powerless people and institutions would fail to detect or contain them.)

Q: How could one of the most advanced and respected justice systems in the world have failed to prosecute even one person responsible for an attack on the citizens of the United States in crimes of such colossal proportions? How could they remain in power and go unpunished for so long after committing them? (A: There's still time; no statute of limitations on many of the crimes.)

Q: How could our military, elected representatives, media, courts, and other institutions have so completely failed to serve us in preventing, reporting, investigating, prosecuting, and responding to crimes of such colossal proportions? (A: Maybe because this is all a more challenging problem than any republic has ever had to contend with. And how many people ever work as hard and conscientiously as we're going to have to work to get this job done? Other than Dr. David Ray Griffin?)

What would we do, what would the 9/11 truth movement be, if we didn't have Dr. Griffin writing and speaking with such integrity, honesty, and impeccable credibility? I know without him, I'd have far less hope for the future, and the present, and the fate of the U.S. Constitution, and the possibility of justice here or anywhere, and the condition of the world, than I do.

To protect yourself, your future, and your children's future, buy this book. Better: buy several copies and put them in the hands of your elected representatives and local journalists. That's who it's addressed to. Law enforcement professionals, educators, clergy, and anyone with any influence in every community needs to read this book too.

P.S. If you live in New York, be sure to register to vote, and then sign the 9/11 Ballot Initiative before June 30, 2008 (nyc911initiative.org).

The mind of David Ray Griffin is refreshingly clear and logical. His meticulous research and critical analysis of documentary evidence is astute and compelling. In "9/11 Contradictions: An Open Letter to Congress and the Press," Dr. Griffin presents a logical sequence of irrefutable facts drawn from actual documents and testimony that demonstrate twenty five internal contradictions in the official 9/11 story. As each contradiction is presented, the author juxtaposes documented timelines and official memos, eye-witness testimony, television broadcasts and news articles that are logically inconsistent with the narrative contrived by the 9/11 Commission. Griffin objectively questions these contradictory narratives, some of them inherent within individual alibis, and observes that the Commission avoided confronting these inconsistencies by eliminating all mention of them in its report. Facts that could not be logically refuted were strategically omitted, thereby erasing from the historical record all evidence of possible perjury and complicity. Each chapter is devoted to one of these contradictions and ends with the request that Congress and the media investigate this inconsistency.

One of the most fascinating contradictions involves the whereabouts of principals on the morning of 9/11 during the critical hours between 9:00 -10:00 am. Refraining from subjective suppositions, Griffin presents public and internal records that suggest that the timeline of critical events was adjusted by the Commission to place the principals at their command posts too late to protect the nation, too late to orchestrate a military response, too late to give stand-down orders, too late to give shootdown orders or to be otherwise guilty of collusion. Thanks to this revised timeline, principals were thus relieved of all evidence indicating their complicity. The conflicting testimony of eye-witnesses such as Richard Clarke, Norman Mineta and FAA officials, who placed the principals and military liaisons at their command posts well before the Commission's timeline did, was simply omitted from the 9/11 Commission Report. The Commission's systematic timeline alteration and omission of incriminating evidence thereby suggest that its mission was damage control, a deliberate cover-up of government complicity in the crime. Griffin, however, does not make this charge; he simply presents the contradictions.

The Commission claimed that Vice President Cheney did not arrive in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center until 9:58. That claim was contradicted by the testimony of Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation, who arrived at the PEOC around 9:20 where shortly thereafter he witnessed Cheney confirm an order that is most naturally interpreted as an order not to shoot down an incoming object shortly before the Pentagon was struck. Richard Clarke's account in his book, "Against All Enemies," corroborates Mineta's testimony, which was evidently so threatening to the official story that it was deleted from the 9/11 Commission video archives.

General Richard Myers contradicted his own story in several incarnations of his alibi as did Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom claimed to be unaware of unfolding events when, according to Richard Clarke, they were both participating in a live video teleconference initiated by Clarke at about 9:10. Griffin analyzes these contradictory versions of events, asking Congress and the press to find out the truth.

The Commission's claim that the FAA did not notify the military early enough to scramble jets was contradicted by the FAA's assertion that not only was a military liaison present throughout its nationwide alert but "within minutes after the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center it immediately established several phone bridges that included FAA field facilities, the FAA Command Center, FAA headquarters, DOD, the Secret Service, and other government agencies." NORAD's original (September 18, 2001) timeline corroborated FAA statements as did military officers, such as the National Military Command Center's Brigadier General Montague Winfield and NORAD's Captain Michael Jellinek. One also learns from Richard Clarke that the "Secret Service had a system that allowed them to see what FAA's radar was seeing." The 9/11 Commission's claim, therefore, would be laughable had the consequences of this lie not been so tragic.

Griffin has compiled extensive eye-witness accounts by firefighters, police officers, journalists and building workers who gave vivid reports of hearing and seeing powerful sequential explosions within all three of the World Trade Center skyscrapers prior to their collapse. Building 7, which was not hit by a plane, also collapsed symmetrically into its own footprint around 5:20 pm - an event that was anticipated and communicated to firefighters by Mayor Giuliani's Office of Emergency Management around noon. Griffin poses the question to NIST, the agency tasked by the Commission with explaining the destruction of the Twin Towers and WTC7, how OEM could have known so many hours in advance that the building would collapse.

Further evidence of controlled demolition is suggested by three professors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute who noted the peculiar characteristics of oxidation and sulfidation on salvaged WTC steel beams. NIST admitted that the temperature of the fires was insufficient (by at least 1000°F) to melt steel. However, if thermate cutter charges (thermite plus sulfur) were used to slice the steel framework, that would explain the molten steel. How did NIST and the 9/11 Commission deal with all the eyewitness testimony that steel had melted? By simply not mentioning it.

Several chapters are devoted to exposing contradictions concerning the alleged hijackers. The assertion that Hani Hanjour could have flown American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon after making a spectacular 330° turn over prohibited airspace is demonstrably preposterous given his record of total incompetence as a pilot. The profile of Mohamed Atta as a devout Muslim on a sacred suicide mission is contradicted by numerous eye-witnesses who described his drinking and sexual activity in detail. The FBI's assertion that Atta's personal belongings provided a treasure trove of incriminating evidence (a Koran, his Will and a list of the 19 hijackers) is dubious, given two inconsistent FBI versions of where this miraculous proof was found. It was first reportedly found in a white Mitsubishi at Boston's Logan airport. But then another FBI claim ~ that two men named Bukhari had driven a blue Nissan to Portland, Maine, and then taken a commuter flight back to Boston on the morning of 9/11 ~ fell apart when it was discovered that one Bukhari had died the previous year and the other was still alive. This problem was clumsily "resolved" by a new FBI story, according to which Atta drove the blue Nissan to Portland and then took the commuter flight back. In this new story, the incriminating evidence was found in his luggage, which failed to get transferred to Flight 11. The 9/11 Commission simply repeated this new story as fact, with no mention of the FBI's earlier story.

Numerous media reports of phone calls from hijacked passengers played a central role in reinforcing vivid imagery in the public mind about Middle Eastern hijackers. One source of this picture was the Justice Department's Solicitor General, Ted Olson, who told CNN that his wife (Barbara) had called him twice from American Flight 77. That story was contradicted at the Zacarias Moussaoui trial in 2006 by the FBI's report on phone calls from the four planes, none of which, according to the report, were made by Barbara Olson. The belief that hijackers took over the planes was also based heavily on reports of over 15 cell phone calls from passengers to relatives, even though high-altitude cell phone calls were not possible in 2001. The FBI phone report resolved that conflict by saying that there were only two cell phone calls, these being both from United Flight 93 when it was down to 5,000 feet. This claim, however, contradicted the reports of many family members, including Deena Burnett, who reported that she knew that the four calls she received from her husband were made from his cell phone because she saw the name on her Caller ID.

Why do these contradictions matter? The story of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and nineteen Muslim hijackers is based entirely on claims that have never been verified. Despite promises of forthcoming evidence, the US government has yet to deliver any hard evidence. To this day, the FBI's web page concerning Osama bin Laden does not accuse him of involvement with the 9/11 attacks because, an FBI official has admitted, "the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11." What, then, is the justification for attacking two sovereign nations and killing over one million civilians?

Although Griffin refrains from making direct accusations, he methodically presents objective evidence that leads the reader to an inevitable conclusion ~ that the purpose of the 9/11 Commission was to assign guilt where it did not exist and to cover up guilt where it did. The Commission's many omissions of contradictory evidence appear to this reader as desperate attempts to protect the principals from criminal indictments for treason, mass murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the earth.

David Ray Griffin's impeccable research documents a multitude of significant contradictions, too many to review in this short summary. The enormous public service he has provided in preparing this meticulous archive cannot be over-stated. This brilliant work should inspire diligent investigation. Any investigative journalist worthy of that title would need only to validate this extensive research. Dr. Griffin has documented and analyzed the evidence with the precision and skill of a seasoned District Attorney. The logical sequence of objective evidence that raises significant questions presents a case that is so well organized it could be used intact by any prosecutor devoted to uncovering the truth.

Let the trials begin. Indictments are long overdue.

Sometimes it takes a Jesus or a child to state the obvious. Personally, I do not embrace the religions that Jesus inspired, but I do recognize the example he set by saying the obvious.

We humans yearn for explanations . When short on answers, we tend to make them up. Then we find ourselves identifying with and defending them, even going to war over them.

You will not find explanations in this book. Nor will you find political or personal agendas, anger, frustration, exasperation, sarcasm, arrogance, or self-righteousness. If you absolutely need answers to 9/11, Griffin leaves those for you to ponder.

All he does is lay out the obvious case that what we have told so far cannot be true. Why? For the simple reason that there are so many in-your-face contradictions in the hundreds of statements upon which the official explanation is based that the only conclusion one can draw is that "the emperor has no clothes."

This book will allow you to be the "child" or the "Jesus" who states the obvious. It will bring out the human in you. For to be a "child" is to be "Jesus" is to be human.

As you read David Ray Griffin's elegant and restrained text, as you read, for example, that an Air Force E-4B was caught on news video over Washington, DC during the 911 crisis and the Pentagon claims it had no planes aloft, your entire brain screams for relief: How can this be? you cry. With the eyes of the world focused on the events of 911, how could the Pentagon deny the reality of the aircraft when there is irrefutable evidence it was there, and no one in authority challenge that? How, oh how, could this be?

911 is in a category not by itself. In the post-war period, I can think of four controversies which fall in the category, defined as matters so explosive in their implications that the utterly outrageous "contradictions" which accompany them go unchallenged because the American people simply cannot bear to contemplate those implications.

The four controversies are: (1) that John Kennedy was assassinated by elements of the US government; (2) that the CIA traffics in illegal drugs; (3) that UFOs are extraterrestrial and the US government knows it; and (4) that 911 was a false flag operation carried out by elements of the US government. If criminal responsibility of the US government was established for any of these four controversies, it would shake American society to its foundations. That is why the American people do not want to know about these controversies beyond the official story.

I remarked to a friend one day, "You can load the World Trade Center with explosives, kill 3000 people and get away with it, but don't fire nine US Attorneys! Oh, they'll get you for that."

To reach a conclusion about any of the four controversies requires years of study. I have put my time in on only one of the controversies, (3) UFOs. As for (4), the 911 controversy, I try to keep up with it, which led me to Griffin's book. It is written with exceptional restraint, care, deliberateness. Griffin presents his facts with an almost plodding deliberateness; one by one they are set in front of the reader, with little comment and no hype at all. It is a manner of writing which gives the book great credibility.

Dissent from the official line on each of the four controversies has spawned a cottage industry in which the controversy scholars toil away and produce analysis of impecable quality--all ignored outside their respective cottage industry communities. In each case, the public would rather have the corruption, the depravity, the audacity, the venality implied by the controversies remain in place than face the disintegration of our institutions that would result from revelation.

I'd read (and just re-read) "Cover Up" and thought that made one of the most compelling cases for showing what the "official story" completely ignored, whitewashed or didn't go near.

I'm only halfway into this and my jaw is on the floor. The first reviewer was spot-on when they wrote this is the "Woodward and Bernstein" report that one of the Jersey Girls was openly hoping for, but didn't get.

Using this book and the information in Paul Thompson's 9/11 timeline, we finally get at least a CLEARER picture of what led to 9/11, but with more questions unanswered still. And that picture bears no resemblance to that of the official 9/11 report.

This is a MUST-READ for 9/11 historians. I've read dozens of books on the subject but at this point I'd tell people to read this FIRST.

Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI--and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him
The author has written a very disturbing book that proves the management theory about how incompetents seem to rise to the surface in some management positions.
"I'm in charge, you aren't, don't question my abilities or insult me with your suggestions or offer me any of your 'obviously substandard' opinions."
Unfortunately, the management discussed here involves people our government has hired to oversee the safety of our country and its citizens. The author provides us with solid resource documentation for his findings and conclusions. It will both anger as well as frighten you with the examples of government incompetence and collusion designed to cover up the incompetence. This is demonstrated at the field and supervisory levels of action. The Congress and oversight agenciies it creates and the appointees of those agencies aren't interested in finding faults and causing corrections so that future mistakes can be avoided. Instead they use appointees who are actually part of the problem and have selfish personal interests in covering up and shifting blame away from themselves.

A lot, actually an amazing amount, of original hard work went into making Triple Cross. Peter Lance is one of the true remaining gumshoe investigative reporters. Lance talked to so many people directly. This is a landmark, maybe THE landmark, original work of research on September 11. The scope of the effort does not cover everything unanswered about September 11, but where Lance goes, he goes DEEP, very deep, and leaves out nothing. There is so much information, with full references and bibliography of sources, that it is work to even read it all, forget how much work Lance put into getting all this original information in the first place and then writing this book from it. It is almost encyclopedic, and this is a good thing, because we need the facts where there were few facts being shared otherwise.

This book has got to be regarded as one of the key works of REAL investigation of September 11.

Just the fact, ma'am. No bull.

Keep going Lance, keep going. We need this information. We need your help.

Triple Cross is scary when you realize the government
cover ups which could have stopped 9/11. The work done
by Peter Lance to uncover these facts is amazing.

Peter Lance has produced a magnificent book. His work needs to be followed up by multiple congessional committees and numerous on air investigative reports. Patrick Fitzgerald, Jack Cloonan, Dietrick Snell, and other highranking DOJ and FBI officials must testify under oath in primetime on national television. Peter Lance should be the lead investigator for the hearing. Americans have no idea the scope of the war against alqaeda. this is much older than 9/11. We have been at war with them since 1989.

I-49, Alec Station and Able Danger need to throughly examined for their inability to connect the dots before 9/11. I-49 was the FBI-DOJ BinLaden taskforce run by Patrick Fitzgerald. Alec Station was the CIA's BinLaden group. Able Danger was the Pentagons data-mining operation that linked Ali Mohammed (top alqeada spy linked with all major cells in the world and the US), Mohammed Atta (lead hijacker on 9/11), Ramzi Yousef (1st WTC bomber and, airliner bombing plots), Egyptian Islamic Jihad Cleric Sheik Abdul Rahman, and Osama BinLaden.

This book proves that the FBI cannot fight terrorism
we need to copy the british domestic intelligence service, MI5.

WE NEED TO HAVE ANSWERS. THIS BOOK IS A GREAT FIRST STEP... MUCH MORE WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE. HIGH RANKING OFFICIALS HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO...

This book is an OK read. Not the kind of book you can't put down but a good read. The author is a bit pretentious in his story telling and thinks more of himself than the acts he participated in. Most people from this side of the law usually put the job before themselves, not this guy.

I bought this as a gift and the recipient loved it. Couldn't put it down! Thank you.

If you can stand a few hundred pages of some greedy FBI agent patting himself on the back the entire time -- this book is for you.

One word, Wow! I Could not put this book down. Read it in two days. How this Cuban born FBI Agent p