Takedown: Inside the Hunt for Al QaedaOn September 11, 2001, as Central Intelligence Agency analyst Philip Mudd rushed out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, he could not anticipate how far the terror unleashed that day would change the world of intelligence and his life as a CIA officer. For the previous fifteen years, his role had been to interpret raw intelligence and report his findings to national security decision makers. But within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, he would be on a military aircraft, flying over the Hindu Kush mountains, en route to Afghanistan as part of the U.S. government's effort to support the fledging government there after U.S. forces had toppled the Taliban. Later, Mudd would be appointed deputy director of the CIA's rapidly expanding Counterterrorist Center and then senior intelligence adviser at the FBI. A first-person account of Mudd's role in two organizations that changed dramatically after 9/11, Takedown sheds light on the inner workings of the intelligence community during the global counterterror campaign. |
From inside the book
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... wanted to leave the business he owned. he was courteous, but both of us knew this job was not a good fit: within ten minutes, I had not only told him of my CIa interviews, but we had also progressed enough to agree that I would leave ...
... wanted to return to a world thirteen centuries ago, might stage another “terrorist spectacular” that would have civilians jumping to their deaths from burning buildings in america. The intelligence industry I had been a part of for ...
... of america ending up on the same path as the Soviets. like many, though, I did know that I wanted a piece of the fight, whatever it would come to be. weeks later, my small world started to draw closer to 5 the 9/11 aftermath.
... wanted to be that person. The timing was right for the assignment: I had already been contemplating next steps in my career before the 9/11 attacks, and it seemed to make little sense to stay on at the national Security Council now that ...
... wanted to go in—initiallyjust for a day-trip, it turned out—to begin to draw in leaders from afghanistan's legendary warring factions. I had a modest role in his team, but at that time, in fall 2001, the CIa had a huge role in providing ...
Contents
1 | |
2 A Return to Langley | 27 |
Moving Beyond the Core of Al Qaeda | 70 |
The Intelligence Problem of Iraq | 90 |
Deputy Director of the Counterterrorist Center | 104 |
6 The Years of Threat | 135 |
The FBI Calls | 145 |
Intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security | 191 |
Index | 199 |