Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlier—when it was requested—the attacks on New York and Washington could have been prevented. During his time on the front lines, Soufan helped thwart plots around the world and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaeda—without laying so much as a hand on them. Most of these stories have never been reported before, and never by anyone with such intimate firsthand knowledge.This narrative account of America's successes and failures against al-Qaeda is essential to an understanding of the terrorist group. We are taken into hideouts and interrogation rooms. We have a ringside seat at bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings. Such riveting details show us not only how terrorists think and operate but also how they can be beaten and brought to justice.

      In December 2009, a group of the CIA’s top terrorist hunters gathered at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, to greet a rising superspy: Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian double-agent who infiltrated the upper ranks of al-Qaeda. For months, he had sent shocking revelations from inside the terrorist network and now promised to help the CIA assassinate Osama bin Laden’s top deputy. Instead, as he stepped from his car, he detonated a thirty-pound bomb strapped to his chest, instantly killing seven CIA operatives, the agency’s worst loss of life in decades.   In The Triple Agent, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Joby Warrick takes us deep inside the CIA’s secret war against al-Qaeda, a war that pits robotic planes and laser-guided missiles against a cunning enemy intent on unleashing carnage in American cities. Flitting precariously between the two sides was Balawi, a young man with extraordinary gifts who managed to win the confidence of hardened terrorists as well as veteran spymasters. With his breathtaking accounts from inside al-Qaeda’s lair, Balawi appeared poised to become America’s greatest double-agent in half a century—but he was not at all what he seemed. Combining the powerful momentum of Black Hawk Down with the institutional insight of Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side, Warrick takes the readers on a harrowing journey from the slums of Amman to the inner chambers of the White House in an untold true story of miscalculation, deception, and revenge.

    and thousands of miles away long before the rest of the country was paying attention to terrorism. Given unprecedented access, thousands of pages of once secret documents, and hundreds of interviews, Garrett M. Graff takes us inside the FBI and its attempt to protect America from the Munich Olympics in 1972 to the attempted Times Square bombing in 2010. It also tells the inside story of the FBI's behind-the-scenes fights with the CIA, the Department of Justice, and five White Houses over how to combat terrorism, balance civil liberties, and preserve security. The book also offers a never-before-seen intimate look at FBI Director Robert Mueller, the only U.S. national security leader still in office from 9/11, and the most important director since Hoover himself.Covering more than 30 years of history and coming right up until the present day of the Obama administration's response to terrorist attacks like that on Christmas Day 2009 in Detroit, the book explores the transformation of the FBI from a domestic law enforcement agency, handling bank robberies and local crimes, into an international intelligence agency--with more than 500 agents operating in more than 60 countries overseas today--fighting extremist terrorism, cyber crimes, and, for the first time, American suicide bombers.Brilliantly reported and suspensefully told, The Threat Matrix peers into the darkest corners of this secret war and will change your view of the FBI forever.

    For many Americans, 9/11/2001, is the darkest date in the nation's history. What exactly happened? Could it have been prevented? How & why did so much acrimony & bad information arise from the ashes of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon & a Pennsylvania field? What remains unresolved? What is certain: Discord & dissent continue to this day. Beginning with the 1st brutal actions of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, The Eleventh Day tracks the sequence of events & introduces the players: pilots, terrorists, passengers & those who died on the ground. Drawing on previously classified records & raw transcripts, Summers & Swan investigate the response of President Bush & the military that day, & the failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. They document the untruths told afterward by US officials &, as counterpoint, consider the contentions of the 9/11 Truth movement. With meticulous research, they examine the personalities of those behind the onslaught, analyze their motives & expose the US intelligence blunders preceding the attacks. They note how afterward--without good evidence--the Bush administration tried to link 9/11 to Iraq. Finally, they confront the question the 9/11 Commission's report blurred: Were the terrorists backed by powerful figures in a foreign nation long viewed as a friend? Riveting, revelatory, thoroughly sourced & complete with extensive endnotes, The Eleventh Day is the essential one-volume work on a pivotal event.

    Now Blanford has written the first comprehensive inside account of Hezbollah and its enduring struggle against Israel. Based on more than a decade and a half of reporting in Lebanon and conversations with Hezbollah’s determined fighters, Blanford reveals their ideology, motivations, and training, as well as new information on military tactics, weapons, and sophisticated electronic warfare and communications systems.Using exclusive sources and his own dogged investigative skills, Blanford traces Hezbollah’s extraordinary evolution—from a zealous group of raw fighters motivated by Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution into the most formidable non-state military organization in the world, whose charismatic leader vows to hasten Israel’s destruction. With dramatic eyewitness accounts, including Blanford’s own experiences of the battles, massacres, triumphs, and tragedies that have marked the conflict, the story follows the increasingly successful campaign of resistance that led to Israel’s historic withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.Warriors of God shows how Hezbollah won hearts and minds with exhaustive social welfare programs and sophisticated propaganda skills. Blanford traces the group’s secret military build-up since 2000 and reveals the stunning scope of its underground network of tunnels and bunkers, becoming the only journalist to independently discover and explore them. With the Middle East fearful of another, even more destructive war between Lebanon and Israel, Blanford tenaciously pursues Hezbollah’s post-2006 battle plans in the Lebanese mountains, earning him newspaper scoops as well as a terrifying interrogation and a night in jail.Featuring sixteen years of probing interviews with Hezbollah’s leaders and fighters, Warriors of God is essential to understanding a key player in a region rocked by change and uncertainty.

    That included Percy and his crew. Percy, Andy, Jim, and Bob stood near the former roadblock with their HK-91 rifles held at the ready until every last person, vehicle, and animal was well past it. The Indian and the two Rokons had been offloaded from the trailer and were parked near the Hummers. Being constantly on guard wasn’t easy but then again ever since the nukes started flying and martial law was imposed travel of any kind was risky. Unfortunately, staying put was not an option, not if they intended to complete Percy’s Mission.

    The storm broke on September 11th 2001. Since then much of the world has seen invasions, bombings, battles and riots. Hundreds of thousands of people have died.Jason Burke, a first hand witness of many of the conflict's key moments, has written the definitive account of its course. At once investigation, reportage and contemporary history, it is based on hundreds of interviews with participants including desperate refugees and senior intelligence officials, ministers and foot-soldiers, active militants and their victims. Burke reveals the true nature of contemporary Islamic militancy and the inside story of the fight against it. He cuts through the myth and propaganda of all sides to reveal the reality behind well-known - and lesser known - episodes, and brings characters, voices and a sense of place to a gripping narrative.The 9/11 Wars is an essential book for understanding the dangerous and unstable twenty-first century. Whether reporting on the riots in France or the killing of Bin Laden, suicide bombers in Iraq or British troops fighting in Helmand, Jason Burke tells the story of a world that changed forever when the hijacked planes flew out of the brilliant blue sky above Manhattan on September 11th 2001.

    Attempted attacks like the Times Square bombing, the "underwear bombing" on a flight over Detroit, and the attack on a Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony in Oregon were all isolated plots that failed. In the words of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, "The system worked." Don't believe it. In The Terrorist Next Door, investigative reporter Erick Stakelbeck exposes the staggering truth about our national security: the Obama administration is concealing and whitewashing the enormous terrorist threat growing right here within America's borders. If you believe terrorism is only a problem for other countries, Stakelbeck's on-the-ground reporting will open your eyes. He has been inside America's radical mosques, visited US-based Islamic enclaves, and learned about our enemies by going straight to the source--interviewing al-Qaeda-linked terrorists themselves. In this shocking book, Stakelbeck reveals: -How Islamic radicals have established separatist compounds and even jihadist training camps throughout rural America -That an overt disciple of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini now leads one of the largest mosques in America -How mega-mosques aren't just planned for Ground Zero--they're being built in the heart of the Bible Belt as part of a plan for Islamic domination -Program to recruit Americans into terror groups -How the Obama administration's beguiling counter-terrorism policies are increasing the threat of another 9/11 The Terrorist Next Door sounds the alarm on a growing threat to every American--one that the US government refuses to face honestly or even to name. As we struggle against a relentless and adaptable Islamist enemy that is committed to destroying our nation, we can't say we weren't warned.

    No doubt many people who intended visiting NYC at that time must have circled September 11, 2001 on their calendars (it's just a random date, after all), but how many of them had a) been diagnosed with PTSD that same year, b) planned to drive from the Pacific Coast of Canada all the way across the continent, and c) were willing to do it alone? This fairly brief (approximately 6,000 words) account of one man's solo journey is exquisitely personal yet undeniably universal in its haunting first-hand observations of the monumental changes wrought by the terrorist attacks. An acute loneliness is transformed into something which, if not outright beautiful, can surely pass as inspirational.

    Now Tomsen draws on a rich trove of never-before-published material to shed new light on the American involvement in the long and continuing Afghan war. This book offers a deeply informed perspective on how Afghanistan’s history as a “shatter zone” for foreign invaders and its tribal society have shaped the modern Afghan narrative. It brings to life the appallingly misinformed secret operations by foreign intelligence agencies, including the Soviet NKVD and KGB, the Pakistani ISI, and the CIA.American policy makers, Tomsen argues, still do not understand Afghanistan; nor do they appreciate how the CIA’s covert operations and the Pentagon’s military strategy have strengthened extremism in the country. At this critical time, he shows how the U.S. and the coalition it leads can assist the region back to peace and stability.

    New name. New assignment.When Alexis Stanton, a.k.a. Ms. Grey, is assigned to uncover the true identity of the infamous sniper Penumbra, she's also expected to protect the business mogul next on the assassin's hit list.The one person who holds the key to the sniper's true identity warns Alex not to dig any deeper. Penumbra has never missed his mark and will take out anyone who gets in the way. Reflections of Grey (Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles)The past and the future merge...Thinking she had learned all the secrets her friends and family could possibly hide, Alex realizes there are plenty more to be found out.Having never been good at telling lies, when she's asked to go undercover she's not sure she can manage the job. Plus, the job is at a strip joint owned by the Russian mafia.Will she be able to keep up the lie? Does she want to?

    A brilliant account of the workings of state terrorism by the world’s foremost critic of US imperialism.

    He will never play ball with his young son or get to see his daughter married. Spiraling into a pit of depression, Kane believes his life is over. Little does he know that mysterious forces are at work in his life and in his heart. On a cool April morning, the civilized world crumbles in the wake of worldwide chemical attacks and nuclear destruction. Kane, a bitter agnostic, is torn to his foundation by the realization that the God of the universe has preserved him for a reason. Testing a newfound faith, he must forge alliances with the other chosen and vow to make a stand against the rising tide of darkness. Preyed upon by ghoulish, cannibalistic mutants and pursued by a merciless gang of bandits demented by an unimaginably sinister power, Kane finds that the road to redemption is paved equally with terror and hope as he struggles to fulfill his purpose and become the man both Heaven and Earth need him to be.

    "Kill or Capture "immerses readers in the dangerous world of battlefield interrogations as the author and his team climb the ladder of al Qaeda leadership in a series of raids, braving roadside bombs, near death by electrocution and circles within circles of lies.

    The Bible has a story about that subject, and all the special effects in the world could not portray the horror and the terror of those days. THE END The Book: Part One is the 1st book to be released in the 7-part The End The Book Series that follows Jeffrey Ross and a group of senior citizen friends and ex-military as Islamists take their war to the Bible-Belt, and Atlanta suffers the first nuclear strike on U.S. soil. After a break in at CDC, the Spanish flu virus is released on the world, and millions die as the virus mutates. A hijacked nuclear submarine makes its way toward the United States, and Jeff begins to wonder if the end really is near.

    However, there are still a few who would prefer white supremacy. When a black Princess of Wales joins the royal family, she is threatened with abuse and undergoes several assassination attempts.During the summer of 2018 the new, free-spirited Princess of Wales comes under threat from a home grown terrorist group who have taken offence to the simple fact that she is a black woman. Princess India refuses to temper her partying or charity work, causing all manner of problems for her royal protection officers.Matters come to a head during India's celebrity-strewn charity ski event in central London, with a traitor emerging to aid a spectacular attack on live TV.

    Now, in a gripping, personal account, Girardet delivers a story of that nation's resistance fighters, foreign invaders, mercenaries, spies, aid workers, Islamic extremists, and others who have defined Afghanistan's last thirty years of war, chaos, and strife.As a young foreign correspondent, Girardet arrived in Afghanistan just three months prior to the Soviet invasion in 1979. Over the next decades, he trekked hundreds of miles across rugged mountains and deserts on clandestine journeys following Afghan guerrillas in battle as they smuggled French doctors into the country, and as they combated each other as well as invaders. He witnessed the world's greatest refugee exodus, the bitter Battle for Kabul in the early 1990s, the rise of the Taliban, and, finally, the US-led Western military and recovery effort that began in 2001.Girardet's encounters with key figures - including Ahmed Shah Massoud, the famed "Lion of Panjshir" assassinated by al Qaeda two days before 9/11, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Islamic extremist massively supported by the Americans during the 1980s only to become one of today's most ruthless anti-Western insurgents, and Osama bin Laden - shed extraordinary light on the personalities who have shaped the nation, and its current challenges, from corruption and narcotics trafficking to selfish regional interests."Killing the Cranes" provides crucial insights into why the West's current involvement has turned into such a disaster, not only rekindling a new insurgency, but squandering billions of dollars on a recovery process that has shown scant success.

    He argues that while these objectives were always the core and headline demands of the organisation, opposition to the old Northern Ireland state was a major dynamic for the IRA’s armed campaign. As he explores the makeup and strategy of the IRA he is not uncritical, examining alternative options available to the movement at different periods, arguing that its inability to develop a clear socialist programme has limited its effectiveness and reach.This authoritative and engaging history provides a fascinating insight into the workings and dynamics of a modern resistance movement.

    

    Terrorism is an extreme form of radicalization, and the book describes pathways to terrorism to demonstratethe twelve mechanisms at work.Written by two psychologists who are acknowledged radicalization experts and consultants to the Department of Homeland Security, Friction draws heavily on case histories. The case material is wide-ranging - drawn from Russia in the late 1800s, the US in the 1970s, and the radical Islam encouraged bythe fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Taken together, the twelve mechanisms show how unexceptional people are moved to exceptional violence in the conflict between states and non-state challengers. Captivating, and with psychological overtones, this timely book covers one of the most pressingissues of our time.

    Living in the beautiful county of Mayo, Harry Ballantine has finally put the life he had always dreamed of together. He has found love with his soul mate, Freya Andreassen, makes a good living running his Adventure Centre in the Delphi Valley and he spends much of his spare time hunting with his Peregrine falcons. But the past has a way of catching up with all men and it suddenly explodes back into Harry's life again, twenty years after he thought it had gone forever. Three men break into his home and take Freya as a hostage. They have an offer for their old IRA comrade-- the sort that cannot be refused if his love and he are to survive. They want him to commit a foul act of murder that has the potential to fatally derail the burgeoning peace process. It forces Harry to revisit his awful past where he had been a different entity--- Jallad, the finest Libyan trained assassin the movement had ever seen. It is a past he had long before discarded in self-disgust but now it may provide the only route to their salvation.And Jallad has another meaning for Harry Ballantine. It was the name of the first Peregrine falcon he had ever seen during his time in the desert of Cyrenaica. The hawk, like him, had been the fiercest of assassins but, in her own strange way, she had also begun his rehabilitation and his humanisation.

    This incisive new text provides an accessible and balanced assessment of political terror and its study and in the process rethinks many assumptions.

    Beginning with the violent border disputes that emerged after Israel's founding in 1948, Daniel Bymancharts the rise of Yasir Arafat's Fatah and leftist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine--organizations that ushered in the era of international terrorism epitomized by the 1972 hostage-taking at the Munich Olympics. Byman reveals how Israel fought these groups andothers, such as Hamas, in the decades that follow, with particular attention to the grinding and painful struggle during the second intifada. Israel's debacles in Lebanon against groups like the Lebanese Hizballah are examined in-depth, as is the country's problematic response to Jewish terroristgroups that have struck at Arabs and Israelis seeking peace. In surveying Israel's response to terror, the author points to the coups of shadowy Israeli intelligence services, the much-emulated use of defensive measures such as sky marshals on airplanes, and the role of controversial techniques suchas targeted killings and the security barrier that separates Israel from Palestinian areas. Equally instructive are the shortcomings that have undermined Israel's counterterrorism goals, including a disregard for long-term planning and a failure to recognize the long-term political repercussions ofcounterterrorism tactics.

    Contributions come from leading international scholars who focus on a wide variety of forms, facets and manifestations of extremist behavior. Systematically integrates and explores the growing diversity of social psychological perspectives on the uncertainty extremism relationship Showcases contemporary cutting edge scientific research from leading international scholars Offers a broad perspective on extremism and focuses on a wide variety of different forms, facets and manifestations Accessible to social and behavioral scientists, policy makers and those with a genuine interest in understanding the psychology of extremism

    Accusations of cover-ups, internal plots, and sabotage from within the ranks of the U.S. government were—and continue to be—not uncommon. But compelling evidence contrary to the accepted narrative has, for some skeptics, been lacking. This investigation into the events of that day reveals dark secrets about United States–sponsored terrorism. Taking highly complex technical and scientific information, and distilling it for the consumption of the lay person, this inquiry attempts to reveal the truth behind that infamous day.

    Offering a glimpse into the contemporary reality of dissent in America , the book explores the upbringings and early political involvements of the defendants, their infiltration of the convention, and the subsequent arrests, legal defense, and outcomes of the case. Contributors include Luce Guillén-Givins, Max Specktor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Robert Czernik, and Garrett Fitzgerald. Their stories provide an understanding of the political repercussions experienced by activists today as a result of protest activity.

    The Task Force comprises world famous jurists and, chaired by Justice Richard Goldstone, provides authoritative expert analysis of the operation and application of international law to terrorism and provides recommendations for reform. This title covers developments in the counter-terrorism policies and practice of individual states and international and regional organizations. It examines the framework of derogations and national security limitations in international human rights law, as well as clarifying when international humanitarian law applies to terrorism and counter-terrorism. This title provides a global overview of counter-terrorism, including but not restricted to the US-led 'war on terror', by considering case law and examples of state practice from all continents. The chapters cover the framework of international conventions against terrorism; international humanitarian law; international human rights law; the investigation and prosecution of terrorist crimes and of international crimes committed in the course of counter-terrorism; state responsibility for internationally unlawful acts as relating to terrorism and counter-terrorism; reform in counter-terrorism; and victims' right to a remedy and reparations. The book closes with conclusions and recommendations from the IBA Task Force on areas for reform and focuses on how the international community can ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law when responding to the threat of terrorism.

    Bruce Hoffman have collected original and previously published seminal articles and essays by political scientists, government officials, and members of the nation's armed forces. The editors and several of the authors write from practical field experience in the nation's war on terrorism. Others have had significant responsibility for planning government policy and responses. The contributors include a majority of the significant names in the field including John Arquilla, Richard Betts, Martha Crenshaw, Rohan Gunaratna, Richard Shultz, and Paul Pillar. Unit I of the book analyzes the philosophical, political, and religious roots of terrorist activities around the world and discusses the national, regional, and global effects of historical and recent acts of terrorism. In addition to material on the threats from suicide bombers, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons, there are also important contributions analyzing new and growing threats such as genomic terrorism. Unit II deals with past, present, and future national and international responses to--and defenses against--terrorism. Essays and articles in this section analyze and debate the practical, political, ethical, and moral questions raised by military and non-military responses (and pre-emptive actions) outside of the context of declared war. This section has expanded on the previous edition to include expanded strategic and tactical counterterrorism offerings and a final chapter devoted entirely to the post-bin Laden security environment.

    However, less is known about the group’s development of biological and chemical weapons and about their prior attacks using these weapons. The CNAS report, Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons, culminates a multi-year project led by Richard Danzig, former Secretary of the Navy and Chairman of the CNAS Board of Directors; with Marc Sageman, Advisor to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army on the Insider Threat; Terrance Leighton, Senior Staff Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and Chief Scientist at Science Applications International Corporation; Lloyd Hough, Senior Research Scientist at Battelle in International Technology Assessments; Zachary Hosford, Research Associate at CNAS; and two Japanese colleagues investigating these issues. Through personal interviews and correspondence with former members of Aum Shinrikyo’s leadership, the report provides never-before documented information on the terrorist group and its operations.

    Together, they guide the reader through the voluminous literature on terrorism, and propose a new consensus definition of terrorism, based on an extensive review of existing conceptualisations. The work also features a large collection of typologies and surveys a wide range of theories of terrorism. Additional chapters survey terrorist databases and provide a guide to available resources on terrorism in libraries and on the Internet. It also includes the most comprehensive World Directory of Extremist, Terrorist and other Organizations associated with Guerrilla Warfare, Political Violence, Protest and Organized- and Cyber-Crime.The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research will be an essential work of reference for students and researchers of terrorism and political violence, security studies, criminology, political science and international relations, and of great interest to policymakers and professionals in the field of counter-terrorism.

    After more than a decade of military operations across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Al Qaida leader who orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks was finally killed in a firefight with U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan. Although this daring raid marked the end of the longest strategic manhunt in American history, bin Laden was not the first individual targeted as the objective of a military campaign. From Geronimo to Pancho Villa, to Manuel Noriega, to Saddam Hussein, the United States has deployed military forces to kill or capture a single person nearly a dozen times since 1885. Part military history, part action thriller, and part strategic policy analysis, Wanted Dead or Alive chronicles the extraordinary efforts of the military and intelligence agencies to bring America's enemies to justice.

    Of course we are "safer"--the posting of a single security guard at one building's entrance enhances safety. The correct question is, "Are any gains in security worth the funds expended?"In this engaging, readable book, John Mueller and Mark Stewart apply risk and cost-benefit evaluation techniques to answer this very question. This analytical approach has been used throughout the world for decades by regulators, academics, and businesses--but, as a recent National Academy of Science study suggests, it has never been capably applied by the people administering homeland security funds. Given the limited risk terrorism presents, expenses meant to lower it have for the most part simply not been worth it. For example, to be considered cost-effective, increased American homeland security expenditures would have had each year to have foiled up to 1,667 attacks roughly like the one intended on Times Square in 2010--more than four a day. Cataloging the mistakes that the US has made--and continues to make--in managing homeland security programs, Terror, Security, and Money has the potential to redirect our efforts toward a more productive and far more cost-effective course.