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
... asked. and, like naive college graduates the world over, I thought I had a good explanation for a rash drive across town to one of the most secure facilities in washington. “I understand you are running newspaper advertisements for new ...
... asked, sounding appropriately nondescript. I was excited, hoping this was the way out ofa first career step I knew would never work. another trip in my Chevette, whose engine at this point had the unfortunate habit of regularly cutting ...
... that a background investigator would appear at my employer to ask questions of myboss, the newsletter owner. I had one request: please let me knowjust a bit in advance, I asked. My boss doesn't know thatI am xii preface.
Inside the Hunt for Al Qaeda Philip Mudd. in advance, I asked. My boss doesn't know thatI am considering leaving, and I want to tell him myself before a shadowy government investigator shows up unannounced to ask him questions about some ...
... asked whether I could retrieve my shoes; he declined, in clear terms. we found our way to the small police station, slowly talking along the way as he settled down. he initially told me he would charge me with three violations: for ...
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 |