by Joby Warrick
First published 2011
Pulitzer Prize winner Joby Warrick reconstructs the true story of Humam Khalil al-Balawi, the Jordanian who simultaneously worked for al-Qaeda and the CIA. Warrick traces how this young double agent gained access to terrorist leadership while feeding intelligence to American handlers. For months, al-Balawi provided valuable information from within al-Qaeda's ranks and promised to deliver Osama bin Laden's deputy. CIA operatives believed they had recruited their most important asset in decades. In December 2009, seven top CIA terrorist hunters waited at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, expecting to meet their prized informant. Instead, al-Balawi emerged from his vehicle wearing a thirty-pound suicide vest. The explosion killed all seven operatives in the CIA's worst single loss of life in decades. Warrick reveals how sophisticated intelligence operations can become deadly traps, showing the human cost of the secret war against terrorism.
Genres: history, non-fiction, 21st-century, espionage
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, double-agent
Setting: Afghanistan, Khost, Jordan
Period: 2009
272 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday