Hard Measures : How Aggressive CIA Actions after 9/11 Saved American Lives

by Rodriguez, Jose A.; Harlow, Bill

• ISBN13: 9781451663471
• ISBN10: 1451663471
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-30
• Publisher: Threshold Editions

Summary

From a top-level operative in the counterterrorism unit of the CIA comes an explosive memoir about the behind-the-scenes fight against al-Qaeda after September 11.Since the death of Osama Bin Laden, interest in counterterrorism is at an all-time high. Most people don't know that Bin Laden's death is the culmination of years of covert operations and tactics largely overseen by Jose Rodriguez from 2001 to late 2007 and built on by his successors. Like a real-life Jack Bauer from television's 24, Rodriguez's sometimes controversial tenure as Chief of the Agency's Counterterrorism Center involved CIA officers capturing and detaining key senior al-Qaeda operatives and implementing Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, tools which were an integral part of the War on Terror but are no longer available to those fighting America's fiercest foes. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Columbia, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez shares his unlikely journey from law school student to CIA recruit and finally, at the end of a thirty-one-year career, to being America's top spy. Rodriguez sparked controversy and a three-year investigation by his decision to order the destruction of videotapes showing CIA officers conducting harsh, but what he describes as "legal, necessary, and effective interrogation." Riveting and timely, Hard Measures also examines how the current political climate and resulting policies have negatively impacted the CIA's efficiencyeven taking away the mechanisms that made feats like the successful Bin Laden operation possible.

Author Biography

Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr. joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1976 and served with the Agency for thirty-one years. At the time of his retirement he was the Director of the National Clandestine Service for the CIA, responsible for the coordination of clandestine human operations for the intelligence community. As a former Director of the Counterterrorism Center, he led the worldwide intelligence collection programs and covert action operations against international terrorist organizations following the ouster of terrorists from Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
Bill Harlow is the former chief spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was the coauthor of former CIA director George Tenet’s #1 New York Times bestseller, At the Center of the Storm, published in 2007. He is a retired Naval Officer who served in top spokesman jobs at the White House, Pentagon, and CIA.

Table of Contents

Preface: Who I Am	p. xiii
Rashid Rauf	p. 1
Latin America Division	p. 13
Abu Zubaydah	p. 41
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed	p. 73
Taking Prisoners	p. 99
Regime Change	p. 123
Investigations	p. 153
The Tapes	p. 181
What We Do	p. 219
The CIA Under Obama	p. 245
Afterword	p. 259
Acknowledgments	p. 263
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