The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism--From Al Qa'ida to ISIS
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Graham Allison, the director of the Belfer Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, deserves special mention, as his invitation to be a senior fellow at the Belfer Center provided me with the opportunity to test many of the ideas in this book with some of our country’s leading minds on national security and foreign policy. Graham was a frequent visitor to my office in Langley, where he always provided insight on key national security issues, and I am thrilled that our professional relationship continues at Harvard.
Graham also provided me with a graduate assistant to help me with the research required to produce the manuscript. Josh Stiefel, an analyst at the Department of Defense, is a brilliant student at the Kennedy School, with a very bright future in national security. Josh did extensive research for the book, as well as multiple fact checks of the document. Josh turned around my questions with a speed and a level of insight that are hard to overstate. I am indebted to him.
In addition, late in the process, as the questions were coming fast and furious, my daughter, Sarah, and her friends Jackson Akselrad and Shayan Karbassi spent hours on the Internet answering what seemed to them to be never-ending questions, and hours doing additional fact-checking. My deepest thanks to the three of them.
Many people read the manuscript and provided thoughtful critiques. At the top of the list are my family—Mary Beth, Sarah, Luke, and Peter. They read the manuscript and provided hours of valuable feedback. Luke helped in particular with the chapter titles; they are much stronger because of his assistance. My thanks to them and to the other readers of the manuscript, all of whom provided useful critiques—George Tenet, Steve Hadley, John McLaughlin, Mike Vickers, John Moseman, John Rizzo, Peter Corsell, Nick Shapiro, Ira Rosen, Glenn Gerstell, and Sam Vinograd. Glenn and Sam in particular approached their critique with a thoroughness and thoughtfulness that are hard to overstate.
The Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST) at the University of Chicago produced the map for the book. My thanks go to the CPOST director, Robert Pape, who is not only a fine scholar but also a fine friend, and to the two primary researchers who created the map, Keven Ruby and Vincent Bauer. They did a great job.
Writing this book has been an eye-opening experience for me. It has forced me to reflect on some of the most critical and trying periods of my time at CIA. I am indebted to Andrew Wylie of the Wylie Agency, who facilitated my introduction to the world of publishing and who, to my great pleasure, connected me with Sean Desmond and the fine professionals at Twelve Publishing, who have helped me conceptualize, craft, and deliver The Great War of Our Time.
With Sean’s guidance I have endeavored to make this book informative, accessible, and entertaining while sharing with the public critical information about the threats the United States and our allies face from international terrorists in the years ahead. His editing made the book much more informative and readable. Throughout, Sean asked many questions to which he believed readers would be interested in knowing the answers—a process I believe has added significantly to the book. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Sean, and now consider him a friend as well as a colleague. Sean’s assistant, Libby Burton, made the book better in more ways than I can count.
What can I say about my friend and coauthor Bill Harlow? It was his phone call late one morning asking if I was going to write a book that got me thinking about it. And he was with me every step of the way. He knew what questions to ask to pull thoughts from deep within my memory. He crafted prose that flowed easily from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. And his judgment about how to handle delicate issues was always right on the mark. We had only a handful of differences of opinion over the many months of writing the book together, and Bill’s view was the right one in every case. I could not have written this book without him. He is a fine writer and even finer friend.
There was no doubt about how to start these acknowledgments and there is also no doubt about how to end them—with deep thanks to family and friends. My sister, Karen, has always been there for me, and she did a wonderful job taking care of our aging parents while I was working so hard. My in-laws, Peter and Susan Manion, have not only been supportive but they have been role models to me in more ways than they will ever know. And Mary Beth’s and my very good friends Shannon and Joe Hynds provided not only a supportive friendship but became a second set of parents to our children.
The most significant thanks—and love—go, of course, to Mary Beth and our three children, Sarah, Luke, and Peter. For the kids, the long hours demanded of someone who works at the top levels of the national security community started when they were quite young. They paid a high price for the long hours, for the never-ending phone calls, and for the many times when my mind was far away even when I was there right next to them. Early on they did not understand why their dad missed so many events, but now they do. They now know that service to one’s country is a family affair, that it requires the love and support of family. I am so proud of the young adults they have become and the fascinating directions in which they want to take their lives.
On our first date, Mary Beth told me that she wanted a life of adventure. Well, I think I delivered—indeed, more than she bargained for. She bore the brunt of all the challenging jobs in which I served—managing the affairs of the family and my many job-related mood swings. I could not have done my job protecting our country without her. Mary Beth also served the Agency with distinction herself—working to improve the lives of Agency families, particularly those officers and families overseas and those families here at home whose loved ones were serving in war zones. I was very proud of the Agency Seal Medal that Director Brennan gave to her. I always said that she deserved a medal for putting up with me, and she got one. I love her very much.
About the Authors
MICHAEL MORELL, former acting director and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is one of the country’s most prominent national security professionals, with extensive experience in intelligence and foreign policy.
BILL HARLOW is a writer, consultant, and public relations specialist. He spent seven years as the top spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency. He coauthored George Tenet’s #1 New York Times best-seller, At the Center of the Storm.
TWELVE was established in August 2005 with the objective of publishing no more than twelve books each year. We strive to publish the singular book, by authors who have a unique perspective and compelling authority. Works that explain our culture; that illuminate, inspire, provoke, and entertain. We seek to establish communities of conversation surrounding our books. Talented authors deserve attention not only from publishers, but from readers as well. To sell the book is only the beginning of our mission. To build avid audiences of readers who are enriched by these works—that is our ultimate purpose.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Map
Preface
Chapter 1 Opening Salvos
Chapter 2 The President and the Sheikh
Chapter 3 The Darkest Hours
Chapter 4 The Finest Hours
Chapter 5 An Imperfect Storm
Chapter 6 Al Qa‘ida’s Nine Lives
Chapter 7 No Mickey Mouse Operation
Chapter 8 Al Qa‘ida Spring
Chapter 9 9/11/2012
Chapter 10 Stalking Points
Chapter 11 Tortured Logic
Chapter 12 Breach of Trust
Chapter 13 The Long War Ahead
Chapter 14 Carved in Stone
Photos
Acknow
ledgments
About the Authors
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Michael Morell
Cover design by Stephani Finks
Cover photos © AFP/Stringer/Getty Images (top); © Jason Reed/Reuters/Corbis (bottom)
Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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