Description
While the American public is aware of the CIAโs use of highly controversial โenhanced interrogation techniques,โ few know the man who, in the wake of September 11, led all U.S. counterterrorism operations and oversaw the use of those proceduresโprocedures that obtained vital and timely intelligence and helped safeguard the nation from future attacks.Puerto Ricanโborn Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., served the United States for twenty-five years as an undercover officer before bringing his wealth of field knowledge to the CIAโs Counterterrorism Center; now, in this riveting account and fascinating life story, one of Americaโs top undercover operatives reveals how hard measures have derailed terrorist activity targeting the U.S., and saved countless American lives. Fully disclosed here for the first time are the undercover operations and tactics implemented during the George W. Bush presidencyโwhich were approved by the highest levels of the U.S. government, certified as legal by the Department of Justice, and supported by bipartisan leadership of congressional intelligence oversight committees.
But as the shock of 9/11 faded, the support that the intelligence community enjoyed and deserved gave way to shortsighted and potentially dangerous political correctness. One by one, the tools needed to successfully fight terrorism were banished, and the men and women who volunteered to carry out our nationโs orders in combating al-Qa'ida found themselves second-guessed, hamstrung, and investigatedโ including Rodriguez himself. In effect, the United States has chosen to willfully and unilaterally disarm itself in the war on terror. In Hard Measures, Rodriguez convincingly argues for the techniques used, and uncompromisingly details when these techniques were necessary, why they worked, and how, ultimately, they contributed to the capture of the worldโs most-wanted terror operatives, including Usama bin Ladin. From law school student to CIA recruit to his role as Americaโs top spy, Rodriguezโs full story is one of utmost importanceโa rare, insiderโs look at an issue that demands attention. Above all, itโs a reasoned, imperative, and fully informed case for hard measures, and an explosive and gripping account of the real war on terrorโ where itโs been and where itโs headed.
Terrorism has always been one of the toughest targets on which to collect intelligence. The secrets you want to steal frequently donโt reside in computer systems, which can be hacked, or safes, which can be broken into, but in the inner recesses of a handful of individualsโ minds.
The clichรฉ about intelligence work is that it is like working on a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle but not having the box top to show you what the finished picture should look like. If only it were that easy. In fact, it is more like working on a million-piece puzzle with no box top, and having millions more random pieces that look like they might fit, but actually are from different puzzles altogether.
It fell to us to make sense of the countless fragments of information and to take action on the chunks of the puzzle, which represented a real and growing threat to the United States and our allies. ISBN:9781451663471
