Blind Spot : The Secret History of American Counterterrorism

In this revelatory new account, national security historian Timothy Naftali relates the full back story of America's attempts to fight terrorism. On September 11, 2001, a long history of failures, missteps, and blind spots in our intelligence services came to a head, with tragic results. At the end of World War II, the OSS's "X-2" department had established a seamless system for countering the threats of die-hard Nazi terrorists. But those capabilities were soon forgotten, and it wasn't't until 1968, when Palestinian groups began a series of highly publicized airplane hijackings, that the U.S. began to take counterterrorism seriously. Naftali narrates the game of "catch-up" that various administrations and the CIA played -- with varying degrees of success -- from the Munich Games hostage-taking to the raft of terrorist incidents in the mid-1980s through the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, and up to 9/11.In riveting detail, Naftali shows why holes in U.S. homeland security discovered by Vice President George H. W. Bush in 1986 were still a problem when his son became President, and why George W. Bush did little to fix them until it was too late. Naftali concludes that open, liberal democracies like the U.S. are incapable of effectively stopping terrorism. For anyone concerned about the future of America's security, this masterful history will be necessary -- and eye-opening -- reading. Title Page Praise ALSO BY TIMOTHY NAFTALI Dedication Preface CHAPTER ONE -- The Plot to Kill General Eisenhower The Channels Theory The War Room The Postwar Legacy The KGB and Terrorism Fears of Terrorism at Home CHAPTER TWO -- Hijacking The El Al Hijacking Terrorism as a Concept Nixon and the Hijacking Problem TWA 840 The September 1970 Crises CHAPTER THREE -- The Lessons of Munich 1972 Solving the Hijacking Problem? The "No Concessions" Policy Morocco and Beirut CHAPTER FOUR -- "There's Very Little We Can Do" CHAPTER FIVE -- The Lull Before the Storm Javits and Ribicoff. Delta ForceA New System? The Iran Hostage Crisis CHAPTER SIX -- False Start Lebanon The Bombing of the Marine Barracks William Buckley A Third Beirut Bombing CHAPTER SEVEN -- Striking Back TWA Flight 847 Operations Tulip and Rose The Achille Lauro Incident The Vice President's Task Force A Quieter Struggle Apparent Victory CHAPTER EIGHT -- The Silent Struggle The Pan Am Investigation The Hostage Issue Triumph over Abu Nidal Solving the Pan Am Puzzle "They Had Not Rung Our Bell Yet" Burying William Buckley CHAPTER NINE -- The New Terrorism Capturing Ramzi Yousef. Iranian TerrorismA Glimpse into al Qaeda CHAPTER TEN -- Clinton Versus bin Laden "We Are at War" The Plan The Millennium Plots CHAPTER ELEVEN -- George W. Bush and bin Laden Al Qaeda Sleepers in the United States The August 6 PDB September 11 CONCLUSION AFTERWORD NOTES INDEX Copyright Page. In this revelatory new account, national security expert Timothy Naftali relates the full story of America's decades-long attempt to fight terrorism. On September 11, 2001, a long history of failures and missteps came to a head, with tragic results. But, explains Naftali, it didn't have to be so. Blind Spot traces the long history of American efforts to thwart terrorism, from World War II to the Munich Games hostage-taking to the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. In riveting detail, based on original research and interviews with the key participants, Naftali describes why our early successes in counterterrorism did not translate into success against Osama bin Laden later in the 1990s, and why, until 9/11, the domestic threat of terrorism was the largest blind spot in United States national security. Title Page; Praise; ALSO BY TIMOTHY NAFTALI; Dedication; Preface; CHAPTER ONE -- The Plot to Kill General Eisenhower; The Channels Theory; The War Room; The Postwar Legacy; The KGB and Terrorism; Fears of Terrorism at Home; CHAPTER TWO -- Hijacking; The El Al Hijacking; Terrorism as a Concept; Nixon and the Hijacking Problem; TWA 840; The September 1970 Crises; CHAPTER THREE -- The Lessons of Munich 1972; Solving the Hijacking Problem?; The "No Concessions" Policy; Morocco and Beirut; CHAPTER FOUR -- "There's Very Little We Can Do"; CHAPTER FIVE -- The Lull Before the Storm; Javits and Ribicoff.;Traces the long history of American efforts to thwart terrorism, from World War II to the Munich Games hostage-taking to the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.