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By Root 613 0

I will always appreciate the candor of the members of the I-49 squad, especially Jack Cloonan, Daniel Coleman, Mark Rossini, and Ali Soufan, each of whom I interviewed countless times. Without them, there would be no book, it’s that simple. Pascuale D’Amuro made sure that the New York office was open to me, and for his trust, I am deeply grateful. Joe Valiquette and Jim Margolin assisted me by arranging interviews that often went on long after the offices closed. At headquarters, I would like to thank John Miller, Michael Kortan, and Angela Bell, who were very helpful in setting up interviews and providing information. Michael Scheuer was a candid guide to the culture of Alec Station and the CIA. His scholarship on bin Laden and al-Qaeda are unsurpassed. There are other people in the American intelligence community I cannot name who have been extremely helpful.

Three women—Anna DiBattista, Valerie James, and Mary Lynn Stevens—shared their often painful memories of John O’Neill, and I was privileged to be entrusted with their stories.

Languages naturally posed a barrier, so I would like to thank the translators that I have hired all over the world. In Arabic: my former assistant Dina Ibrahim was absolutely invaluable, not just because of her skillful translation; also Dina’s sister May, and on occasion their mother Aida; my Arabic instructor, Amjad M. Abu Nseir; Jilan Kamel; Nidal Daraiseh, another valued assistant; and Reham al-Sharif in Cairo. In German: Ralf Jaeger and Chester Rosson. In French and Italian: Caroline Wright. In Spanish: Rocio Millán Johnson, Frank Hodgkins, and Major Edward Jeep.

Portions of this book appeared in The New Yorker; indeed, this project began on September 11, 2001, when I asked the editor, David Remnick, to put me to work. Since then I have had the benefit of that magazine’s exacting editorial assistance. Jeffrey Frank, Charles Michener, and Daniel Zalewski have each handled articles that contribute to the final product. I am always indebted to The New Yorker’s fact-checkers, my favorite department of the magazine, which is overseen by Peter Canby. Checkers who have assisted me on this project include Gita Daneshjoo, Boris Fishman, Jacob Goldstein, Marina Harss, Austin Kelley, Andy Young, and particularly Nana Asfour, who also served as the Arabic translator for several important interviews. I owe a huge debt to Natasha Lunn, the magazine’s photo editor, who drew together many of the images that have been included in this book.

Many people assisted in getting me visas or access to people that I could never have approached on my own. Janet McElligot and Milt Bearden were extremely kind in this regard. In addition to helping to shape the ideas for this book, Elizabeth Fernea actually found me the job in Saudi Arabia. Her contribution is apparent all through this work.

There is a small group of private scholars whose work on terrorism has been of great assistance to journalists, and I want to thank Rita Katz and the SITE Institute, Steven Emerson and Lorenzo Vidino of the Investigative Project, and Evan F. Kohlmann for making materials available from their collections. I’m also indebted to Michael Elsner at the Motley Rice law firm, who generously let me prowl through their impressive archive. Karen Greenburg and the staff of the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law have provided an intellectual testing ground for many of the ideas explored in this book.

I am fortunate to be a part of a virtual community, Gulf 2000, created by Gary Sick, adjunct professor of international affairs and the former director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. G2K, as its members call it, has proved to be an absolutely invaluable resource of scholarship and shared ideas.

Journalists count on each other even when they are competing. In addition to the colleagues I’ve already mentioned, I would particularly like to acknowledge the assistance of CNN’s terrorism analyst, Peter L. Bergen, John Burnett with National Public Radio, Chris Isham of ABC News, Stephen Franklin