First published 2011
FBI Special Agent Ali Soufan gets handed a classified document on the morning of September 11, 2001. The file contains intelligence that could have prevented the attacks on New York and Washington if he had received it months earlier when originally requested. Soufan works the front lines of America's battle against al-Qaeda, using interrogation techniques that extract crucial confessions from terrorists without physical coercion. He disrupts plots across the globe while navigating the failures and successes of American intelligence operations. The agent gains access to terrorist hideouts and witnesses bin Laden's private reaction to the September 11 attacks. Soufan's firsthand experiences reveal how terrorist networks function and how they can be defeated through skilled investigation rather than force.
Genres: history, american, crime, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, insider-perspective, personal-narrative
Setting: New York, Washington
Period: September 11, 2001
572 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: violence