Eric Schmitt

​When I wondered if I should read this book or not, I feared it might be little more than the retelling of the tracking and killing of Osama Bin Laden, which by now has been told several times​. But I started the book, and soon found out it was much more than that. The authors ​are experienced reporters from The New York Times, ​and well versed in security issues. They take the reader through the significant changes in the U.S. approach to counterterrorism over the years. I think the show more post 9/11 stories about the disfunction between our intelligence agencies and the inter-department turf wars between the FBI and CIA showed that we could, and must, do a better job of intelligence gathering and sharing. And Schmitt and Shanker take us through that process.

​After 9/11, America barely knew who or what Al Qaeda was. We learn a little more about how we went from that as a beginning point to our refinements and intelligence gathering of today. Much of what goes on is behind the scenes to most citizens, and things like cyberwarfare, intelligence gathering techniques, and disruption of terrorist funding don't get much recognition. But hearing that those techniques are being used, effectively in most cases, is helpful. This is especially so since many intelligence "successes" remain unknown to us, since revealing them could reveal sources and techniques which need to remain secret. show less

Despite progress in confronting terrorist organizations, the main lesson for Americans is to be resilient in the face of an inevitable terrrorist attack.