The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

***** The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack. By Ronald Kessler; published by Crown Forum, www.randomhouse.com/crown/forum (Web); 272 pages; $26.95.

The subtitle of The Terrorist Watch promises a look “inside” the government’s ongoing efforts to prevent the next 9-11; and the book’s content is indeed “inside.” In researching his book, author Ronald Kessler clearly enjoyed exceptional access to top-level staff at several federal agencies like the FBI and CIA.

Kessler describes the government’s counterterrorism efforts before 9-11, when rigid bureaucracies stymied intelligence gathering and information sharing. At one time, Kessler finds, less than 10 percent of the FBI’s 11,000 agents were devoted to investigating domestic and foreign counterterrorism. (Currently there are at least 4,000.)

The author recounts the transformation of the FBI under Director Robert Mueller and describes new relationships forged with the CIA through Gen. Michael Hayden. Hayden, now CIA director, headed the National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005 and was principal deputy director of national intelligence from 2005 to 2006.

Before 9-11, and initially after, antiquated information systems and single-mindedness within agencies thwarted timely information sharing, Kessler writes. Due in part to President Bush’s 2003 creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, later renamed the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), cultures have changed to encourage sharing.

Kessler is also clear in his indictment of the U.S. news media’s hand in the war on terror, characterizing their work as dangerous and irresponsible, from underreporting of progress to reporting of alleged leaks.

Kessler’s writing style draws the reader in as though this were a good novel. The difference in this case is that he is reporting the hard truth. His account of U.S. counterterrorism efforts since 9-11 would be of interest to anyone with a stake in the fight against terror, including security professionals of all specialties and experience levels.

Reviewer: Carlotta M. Gedman, CPP, ICPS (International Crime Prevention Specialist), is manager of safety and security at the Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Shadyside. She is an adjunct professor of sociology at Duquesne University and a member of ASIS International.