The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA by Joby Warrick

Dec 01, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

The book's title would have you believe that its primary focus is that of the triple agent Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who successfully exploded a suicide vest on a CIA base in Afghanistan in 2009. The book does delve into this man's life, but the majority of the book consists of multiple portraits of many of the CIA employees and the Jordanian intelligence officer who were killed in the attack. The main reason for this backstory is to explain how exactly the CIA exposed itself to such an...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-stay-with-you

Fascinating and disturbing, this book left me reeling and stayed with me for many days after finishing it. It's been a long while since I've encountered a book that I couldn't put down, but I sped through this one in two days. It truly does read like an edge-of-your-seat fiction novel. It details the events that occurred during the 2009-2010 winter holiday. At that time, a headline briefly appeared about a suicide bombing that killed 9 CIA officers at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. The...more

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May 12, 2013 Mike added it

"The Triple Agent" by Joby Warrick is a very interesting book about espionage and deception, and is set present day. The book covers a native Jordanian named Humam Khalil al-Balawi who is a "jihobbist". He posts on online forums about jihad, but is not involved in any terrorist organizations. This changes after he is snatched by the Jordanian Police on night. He is turned into a double agent, and is sent to Pakistan to infiltrate the Taliban and their notorious allies, Al-Qaeda. Unbeknownst to h...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Chuck Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tells the story of the suicide bombing attack that occurred at the CIA's base in Khost, Afghanistan in late December 2009. Most importantly, it details Humam Al Balawi, the Jordanian doctor who convinced the CIA that he was supplying them with valuable information about Al Qaeda in the hopes that they could finally nab some of the group's highest ranking terrorists. The whole time however, Balawi was preparing for a suicide mission against the Americans as a terrorist himself. The book does well...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Hock Tjoa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the true story of an improbable spy. It is well written and deserves to be read by those interested in what the U.S. is doing fighting in "Af-Pak". A Lebanese doctor who develops into a fundamentalist Muslim despite his aversion to violence and ineptitude as soldier or spy. He is persuaded by the Jordanian intelligence agency to become a spy for them to infiltrate al-Qaeda; the C.I.A. rejoice with the Jordanians as he appears to be succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. Only those dream...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, american-foreign-policy

http://philabooks.wordpress.com/2012/...

On February 22 of this year, United States soldiers burned Korans at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, in an effort to purge the base’s library of tools they believed jihadists were using to pass messages to one another. Then on March 11, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated soldier on his fourth tour of duty, killed sixteen civilians in southern Afghanistan. The Koran burnings brought a string of deadly protests to the streets of Afghan villag...more http://philabooks.wordpress.com/2012/...

On February 22 of this year, United States soldiers burned Korans at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, in an effort to purge the base’s library of tools they believed jihadists were using to pass messages to one another. Then on March 11, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated soldier on his fourth tour of duty, killed sixteen civilians in southern Afghanistan. The Koran burnings brought a string of deadly protests to the streets of Afghan villages and cities and threatened to further turn the tide of public opinion against the U.S. occupation. The civilian massacre, on the other hand, brought a wealth of warnings from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who demanded U.S. troops withdraw from their smaller outposts in the villages into their larger military bases. The Republican candidates for U.S. president used Obama’s quick apology for the Koran burnings to claim he was not standing behind the troops on the ground. Mitt Romney said not long ago on the campaign trail he would never apologize for anything America does. A deluge of vitriol poured forth from the U.S. public about Bales’s senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children in two small villages. The pain, confusion and anguish a soldier might feel on his fourth tour of duty in one of the hottest warzones in the world, was the last thing on most people’s minds.

It’s easy to forget why the U.S.-led coalition occupied Afghanistan in the first place, and why it has maintained that occupation for over ten years. Joby Warrick’s new book, The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA brings the true issues of the War on Terror, which has concentrated on Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, into sharp focus for a public wearied by the complications of the occupation. If it were not for the Taliban’s harboring of al-Qaeda, the U.S. would not have sent troops to this part of the world, and the peace-keeping and democracy-building mission the coalition forces find themselves embroiled in would immediately cease to be imperative if al-Qaeda and a further emboldened Taliban, and its associated insurgent groups, were not still threatening to inflict harm on Americans in America. Karzai’s government, which is accused of widespread corruption, would not merit a second glance from an overly extended U.S. foreign presence if he weren’t harboring U.S. forces, particularly bases for drone missions over the FATA. The U.S. would immediately install a different government or find another base of operations in the region, if the current troop presence were necessary to fulfill its true mission.

That mission, the disruption and destruction of al-Qaeda and other groups using the FATA as a home base for training and recruitment, is largely conducted by CIA forces based in eastern Afghanistan. While the operation may need some troop presence and certainly require secure bases, the 2009 surge, in hindsight, seems ill-advised.

Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a young Jordanian doctor so community-minded he forsook high-paying job opportunities to work in a clinic serving women and children in one of Amman’s slums and often gave people on the street free rides in his car if they were going in the same direction, killed himself and ten others in a heavily-guarded CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan in December 2009. This is where Warrick’s narrative starts, though he leaves the death toll tenuously obscure throughout The Triple Agent. We assume, though, that anyone who is written about only in the past tense in such a narrative has lost his or her life.

The two questions which Warrick seeks to answer are as follows. How could such an otherwise normal young man, with a family and plenty of prospects, turn himself into a weapon of mass destruction? And how could the CIA allow it to happen right under their noses?

At first, Balawi is almost instantly sympathetic. The young, humble clinic doctor who helps the least fortunate in his community is obviously confused and angry about the world around him. His marriage to a conservative Turkish journalist seems to have radicalized his personal politics and confirmed an already strong faith. He starts blogging under a pseudonym and his contributions to radical jihadist sites are so full of passion and perspective they instantly garner him recognition, in both terrorist circles and intelligence agencies. But the reader is left to wonder whether Balawi could ever have turned his vitriol into violence if it weren’t for the Mukhabarat, Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate. Ali bin-Zeid, a pudgy cousin of Jordan’s king, and other Mukhabarat officers, interrogate Balawi when he is apprehended after the blog posts are tracked to his computer. Bin-Zeid along with a CIA officer and the blessings of both the Mukhabarat and Washington, adopts Balawi as an agent to infiltrate al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Bin-Zeid, a westernized agent who is obsessed with flight simulators and road trips in expensive vehicles, serves as Warrick’s moral center and the only person to follow Balawi from this beginning to his unexpected end. But bin-Zeid threatens Balawi’s reputation and the safety of his family to make him cooperate. Balawi may never have met a terrorist in his life, other than in online chat rooms, if it weren’t for his adoption as an agent of the Mukhabarat and CIA.

From Michael Hayden to Leon Panetta to Jennifer Matthews, a veteran targeter in the CIA, you get the feeling the CIA fears its own ineptitude being revealed more than anything else. The tone for much of the book is elegiac, as if all of its subjects are doomed to an early death, not only the CIA operatives, but also the intelligence community’s fight against extremism. The CIA’s eagerness to obtain information on the whereabouts of the most wanted men in the world, even those who are only symbolically leading al-Qaeda and have lost their ability to command, allows the agency to forgo its time-tested protocol in favor of extraordinary risk. Dane Paresi, a former Green Beret, employed by a private military contractor, along with the other well-seasoned security staff at the base, argues for a more traditional approach to Balawi’s interview. But in the end Balawi is allowed to enter the heart of the CIA base at Khost without being stopped and frisked or even visually examined before coming into the presence of fourteen operatives, a mix of civilian and military personnel, CIA, Mukhabarat and private contractors.

Balawi’s immediate success, or ability to fake immediate success and string along the whole CIA, is impressive given his meek pedigree. It’s almost inconceivable that Balawi does not at some point consider turning his back on al-Qaeda and aborting his suicide mission. This is the destructive force of faith at the heart of radical fundamentalism.

The cast of characters in Warrick’s book reads more like fiction than fact, from bin-Zeid to Elizabeth Hanson the precocious young CIA targeter who wears flip-flops to work, to Jennifer Matthews the veteran who wants to make up for her tarnished reputation, to Leon Panetta the reluctant boss who never wants to pull the trigger. But the entertaining nature of this modern war story and the grisly detail of the explosion and the CIA’s determination to respond and retaliate shed light on our fascination with stories of violence and justice.(less)

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Dec 13, 2011 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you’re looking for a wide, in-depth canvas of the workings of the CIA you won’t find it in The Triple Agent, but you will find a deep, narrow slice of the agency. Part of that slice will show how so many of the agency’s successes and failures are caused by the strengths and flaws (and in-fighting) of human beings.

Basically, the author, Joby Warrick tells a simple story, and yet it is riveting and emotional because the events are well researched and described and because the people who trigger...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Gerry Claes rated it 4 of 5 stars

I understand why a lot of Muslims in the Middle East view the United States as the enemy and wish evil upon us. I can even sort of understand how a poor uneducated Palestinian can be convinced that it is a good idea to strap a bomb on and kill himself along with as many Israelis as possible. What I will never understand is how a well educated doctor from the middle east thinks killing himself along with a handful of Americans is a good idea.

The Triple Agent is the story of a bright young doctor...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Khaled Gharaibeh rated it 3 of 5 stars

the book is easy to read. it brings details on each character involved in Balawi life especially the CIA agents were killed in Khost suicide mission.
the book discusses the relation between CIA and JO Mukhabarat in counter-terrorism in specific.
the book shows how eager and anxious the agency was to know the whereabouts of chief commanders of Al-Qaeda... especially No 1 and 2, who, the later, was the key reason CIA wanted to meet their claimed informant (Balawi), who eventually detonated a bomb, k...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Elizabeth Sulzby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: espionage-political

I found this book very intriguing. It is based on a true story but reads like fiction by Richard Clarke or David Ignatius. This book is about the triple agent mole that lead to many CIA/NOC and other US intelligence "experts" doing very un-expert things which lead to their death. This is a real event, when so many of these people came out together to meet a mole they'd never met before--KaBlooey! Many highly trained intelligence experts got stupid just long enough to get killed.

I read this just...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Book Him Danno rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have never read a book like this before, I have read so many books of fiction and Non-Fiction about the CIA but never one on the current decade. It starts off with the Bomb blasting of the Khost CIA outpost in Afghanistan. As mentioned in the book several times it was the darkest day for the CIA because so many CIA officers were killed and it could have been prevented had they taken the proper steps to protect themselves, instead of worrying about protecting an asset they had never met. The CI...more I have never read a book like this before, I have read so many books of fiction and Non-Fiction about the CIA but never one on the current decade. It starts off with the Bomb blasting of the Khost CIA outpost in Afghanistan. As mentioned in the book several times it was the darkest day for the CIA because so many CIA officers were killed and it could have been prevented had they taken the proper steps to protect themselves, instead of worrying about protecting an asset they had never met. The CIA station chief was Jennifer Matthews and the only reason she took the job was because she wanted to move up in the CIA. By taking the post in Afghanistan for one year, it was compared to working for the CIA state side for four years. She had no proper training, was unprepared and she just wanted a promotion which is never a good reason to do anything, my personal feelings on the subject.

The author writes with such passion about the topic and in so much detail that I never once felt lost in the story. He explains everything in terms, that if you follow the news, you will completely understand.

He writes about each of the different men and woman who were killed by interviewing family and coworker and I feel that gives the reader a real connection to the individuals who were murdered for no reason. In the middle of the book there are several pictures putting a face to those who lost their lives that day.

The author also interviewed the family of the Al-Qaeda mole and you feel how much they didn't know about their son and husband. He was a doctor healing people in a free clinic and one day he entered an Al-Qaeda chat room and became famous by calling all those who read his words to war. At one point he mentions in his chats how the American Barbie dolls will one day wear burka's.

The author explains how the police are able to properly identify the suicide bomber at the blast site. He also write in detail about what happened after the bombing and the doctors who attended to the men and woman. You can almost feel the pains a doctor felt seeing the young woman Elizabeth Hanson enter his operating table with hopes of survival only for her to die minutes later.

I still do not realize why the Al-Qaeda hates what Americans stand for and how a man who was trained to save lives could takes lives instead. By reading this book I have found myself more interested in learning about Islam without the extremes and what separates them from Al-Qaeda.

Review by Guest Blogger Heidi…thanks Heidi for you imput.(less)

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Aug 31, 2011 Benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars

My review from Lawfare:

The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA, by Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, ranks among the very best pieces of narrative journalism I have read related to the history of America’s conflict with Al Qaeda. Like the other books in that category—George Crile’s Charlie Wilson’s War, Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, and Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars—Warrick has pulled off a truly remarkable feat of reporting, bringing together a rich constellation of so...more My review from Lawfare:

The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA, by Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, ranks among the very best pieces of narrative journalism I have read related to the history of America’s conflict with Al Qaeda. Like the other books in that category—George Crile’s Charlie Wilson’s War, Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, and Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars—Warrick has pulled off a truly remarkable feat of reporting, bringing together a rich constellation of sources on a sensitive matter and telling a story that, prior to his efforts, had remained obscure despite our all having known it was there.

Unlike these other books, however, Warrick’s story does not deal with the big sweep of modern history. It is not about anything as broad as the history of Al Qaeda, much less modern Afghanistan or its confrontation with the Soviet Union. The Triple Agent, rather, is the story of a single suicide attack on the CIA base at Khowst in late 2009 by a supposed American-Jordanian agent arriving for a meeting—an attack which killed, among others, several CIA officers and contractors and a Jordanian intelligence officer and royal family member.

The book’s many virtues begin with its lack of pretense. There is no political agenda here, no broad thesis the events Warrick recounts are made to support. Those looking for shrill denunciations dressed up as investigative intelligence reporting will be disappointed. Warrick is simply telling a story, albeit a tragic one with broad implications.

The outlines of this story are simple enough. The CIA and Jordanian intelligence operatives cultivated what they thought was a mole in Al Qaeda—a doctor whom the Jordanians caught posting vile material to a jihadist web site and thought they had flipped. Their mole sent back tantalizing material suggesting that he had penetrated Al Qaeda’s inner core, thereby dangling before the highest levels of the Obama administration and the CIA the possibility of locating and nailing Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The supposed mole, however, turned out to be not just a double agent but a triple agent; the material he sent back was all bait. And when we fell for it and a meeting was finally arranged at the base at Khowst, he came with a suicide vest, detonated it, and thereby inflicted one of the greatest injuries the CIA has sustained in its modern history.

What makes Warrick’s book at once so electrifying and informative is the detail he brings to this story. His reconstruction of the events, both on the ground in Jordan and Afghanistan and at the decision-making level in Washington, bristle with the energy of a thriller. Yet at the same time, his portraits of those killed, deeply enriched by substantial input from their families, are intimate and moving. These portraits are made all the more moving by the fact that he does not spare some of these characters their flaws or the mistakes they made in the debacle that took their lives. Indeed, the ultimate tragedy really boiled down to a question of operational security—a decision to have so many important people standing within the potential blast radius of a bomb before subjecting someone known to have been hobnobbing with Al Qaeda to so much as a pat down. While Warrick does not condemn the base commander, CIA officer Jennifer Matthews, for this decision, the implication of his narrative is clearly that this was a terrible blunder on her part—one that cost many lives in addition to her own.

Beyond the many fine character studies, Warrick’s portrayal of the depth of the security cooperation between the United States and Jordan will surprise all but those most knowledgeable about the intelligence community. And his description of the tradecraft of counterterrorism, both in Jordan and in the United States, will enrich anyone’s understanding of how these operations happen—how they go right, and how they go wrong. Along the way, Warrick gives the best description I have yet read of why and how the drones program accelerated so dramatically between the late Bush administration and the early Obama administration. The Triple Agent is a short volume, but it’s a short volume that does a huge amount of work.

One of its most interesting labors is Warrick’s unsentimental effort to get inside the mind of the bomber, Humam Khalil al-Balawi. Balawi left behind a lot of writing and videos, and being a supposed asset of Jordanian intelligence, he also had a long record of correspondence and interviews with his handler. What’s more, he got his start as a kind of jihadist blogger; indeed, the Jordanians initially picked him up because he was becoming a celebrity in certain online jihad circles. So there’s a fair bit of material with which a resourceful reporter can reconstruct what he did and what he was thinking at various times. What’s more, Warrick seems to have spent a lot of time with his family, just as he did with the families of those Balawi killed. And the book reflects access in the Jordanian intelligence community as impressive as Warrick’s access in the American intelligence community. The result is that his portrait of Balawi is almost as rich as his portrait of Balawi’s victims. And he deftly uses him to shed important light on the inside of the Pakistani Taliban and on the Al Qaeda figures with whom Balawi interacted.

It is the convention, I know, in overwhelmingly positive book reviews to find something to criticize before closing. But with only a little embarrassment, I’m going to defy that convention. At a narrative level, I couldn’t put this book down. At an informational level, I learned a great deal on a subject about which I thought I knew a lot. And at an emotional level, The Triple Agent quite literally brought tears to my eyes over what this country lost that day and reminded me how great the sacrifice can be in even invisible wars. I recommend this book without reservation.(less)

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Jul 31, 2011 Paul Pessolano rated it 4 of 5 stars

”The Triple Agent” by Joby Warrick, published by Doubleday.

Category – History/Military

The story of Humam Khalil al-Balawi is very convoluted and hard to believe. He is responsible for the worst loss of life in the CIA in decades.

Humam was very intelligent and came from a well to do family. He received a medical degree and was working at a United Nations medical clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp. He was married and had two daughters.

Humam also had another side of him that espoused radical Musl...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book tells the story of the suicide bomber invited into a military facility at Khost that succeeded in making casualties out of many of the Seals and CIA people that were there - more people that were gathered than necessary for a dangerous and basically unsecured meeting. I suspected eagerness more than hubris caused this lapse of reason, and the book bears it out. The drone revenge swath of over 60 Al Qaeda killed was more successful than I had gathered from the news.

New and most interest...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Sheldon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: documentary

Up front disclaimer that I listened to the audiobook version. Not that it makes a huge difference in all cases but the difference may impact the experience a little.

Book really contained a lot of detail of the events leading up to and after the sad day in December, part of which makes me doubt some of the validity of some parts of the story to a minor degree. Not saying it the story was completely fabricated but some of the minor details and thoughts of the people who were involved may have been...more

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May 18, 2013 Carlee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

This was a difficult book to read (or listen to, as I did for 61%, before switching to the e-book) for the mere subject matter - a Jordanian doctor whom the CIA thought had infiltrated al Qaeda and was acting as a double agent, flipped sides and set off a suicide bomb at the CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan. As it turned out, Humam al Balawi hadn't really given up his jihadist views - he had been playing the CIA and pro-Western Jordanian spy agency Mukhabarat all along.

I am not one for condoning t...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, non-fiction-political

Joby Warrick, a Washington Post reporter, chronicles the events of 2009 that culminated in the worst loss of life for the CIA in 25 years. The book's title refers to Humam al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor who spent his days treating the poor and sick in a Palestinian refugee camp and his nights blogging on jihadist Web sites. He was arrested by the Jordanian intelligence agency and became an asset for them, traveling to Pakistan and sending back intelligence data to his handler. The CIA, working wi...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Patrick C. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-tuesday-book-club

I found this book to be very informative and compelling. The quality of the reporting reminded me of Bob Woodward's accounts - informed by multiple interviews and extensive research. Here, there were some gaps that I attribute to the nature of the intelligence business. For instance, the lives and backgrounds of each of those who died in the bombing at the Khost CIA base were presented in remarkable detail - yet those who were also present, but survived, are not described at all.

Two of the main...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Charis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Simple, sad, and interesting insight into the life of a terrorist, the CIA and a devastating loss to the intelligence community. If you study the theory of terrorism, you learn that terrorists rarely fit any profile. Often, they are young, educated and from middle class or wealthy families. But there is generally a fanatical ideology they subscribe to, whether political, religious or other. Humam al-Balawi was an example of this. This story does not take the time to talk about his childhood or y...more Simple, sad, and interesting insight into the life of a terrorist, the CIA and a devastating loss to the intelligence community. If you study the theory of terrorism, you learn that terrorists rarely fit any profile. Often, they are young, educated and from middle class or wealthy families. But there is generally a fanatical ideology they subscribe to, whether political, religious or other. Humam al-Balawi was an example of this. This story does not take the time to talk about his childhood or young life to explain how he came to embrace radical ideology. The story begins with Balawai working as a doctor in Jordan with a secret life as an internet jihadist, his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence to spy on Al-Qaeda and his final turn as a suicide bomber.

There are always conspiracies surrounding the CIA and Hollywood has well established that it is the bad guy, out to destroy the U.S. Triple Agent is a perfect example of the hard work and sacrifices of CIA case officers and analysts. For them, the job is never done. They will spend the majority of their careers, often at the sacrifice of their personal lives, pouring over endless data and information, looking for a clue to prevent the next big attack. Unfortunately, Triple Agent is about one of these cases that went horribly wrong.

I'm not generally a fan of journalists writing about War or Intel - you're never quite sure where they get their information and they frequently reveal some things better left hidden. However, this story was simple and to the point. Unlike most lengthy histories and memoirs, Mr. Warrick skipped the history lesson and just told the story, resulting in few details but an even pace and easy to follow. Most people probably didn't glance up from their morning coffee when the news reported 7 CIA agents killed at an outpost in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. But numerous lives were lost in a dangerous business entirely directed at protecting the unsuspecting public. Maybe this is something you should never forget.(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, read-in-2012

A story recounting the events that led up to the sad day of Dec 30, 2009 when several CIA agents were killed in a suicide bombing. To me, he most intriguing aspect of this book was the story of the terrorist, Humam al-Balawi, himself. He willingly started down a path yet was ignorant and unprepared for the destination that path would lead him to. He didn't intend to nor desire the end result but the power of inertia overwhelmed his agency and left him bound to an entity he didn't necessarily wan...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Special rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Before December 30, 2009, no one at the CIA had dreamed that an informant would set up a meeting with his handlers just so he could kill them along with himself,” Warrick writes in his gripping and excellently organized account of the suicide bombing at the CIA’s Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. Years earlier, the 9/11 Commission concluded that while there were many specific and individual errors which precipitated the intelligence community’s failure to prevent an al-Qaeda...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

In December 2009, a group of the CIA’s top terrorist hunters gathered at a secret base in Khost, Afghanistan, to greet a rising superspy: Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian double-agent who infiltrated the upper ranks of al-Qaeda. For months, he had sent shocking revelations from inside the terrorist network and now promised to help the CIA assassinate Osama bin Laden’s top deputy. Instead, as he stepped from his car, he detonated a thirty-pound bomb strapped to his chest, instantly killing sev...more

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Sep 20, 2011 LA Carlson rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to LA by: read a review

Shelves: non-fiction

Pulitzer prize winner and reporter Warrick puts a human spin on the people who are tracking terrorists; offers personality insights and pictures. This is an engaging story of a Jordanian agent who played both sides and ultimately cost the CIA 7 of its most valuable personnel. It reads like fiction but when you get to the point in the story where a Taliban bomb maker is introduced and the process of how he creates those vest bombs for people to wear it will give you reason to pause. This book ill...more

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May 20, 2012 Randy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just a fabulous read...this non-fiction book takes you into the background of how CIA agents work in the world of counter terrorism, while at the same time telling the story behind the suicide bombing of 7 CIA agents and others in Khost, Afghanistan. I usually have several items in process of reading - magazines, newspapers, other books...but had to put aside those other items at times to continue to read this. It reads very well - and its relative brevity as a non-fiction book is a plus. It sti...more

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Dec 22, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: military, espionage

This is one of the better books I have read in a while. The story dates to the end of 2009 when a suicide bomber killed 7 CIA officers and contractors as well as a Jordanian intelligence officer. The book provides a great narrative of the story starting with the arrest of the Jordanian suicide bomber for posting on Jihadist sites and how he came to Pakistan as well as the other lives the victims were living until it all came crashing together in Khost. The author interviewed family members of th...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Shaunak rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book takes you through a decade of war in Afghanistan. What began as a manhunt for Osama Bin Laden quickly escalated into one of the most horrific wars of our time.

It weaves the stories of individuals from the CIA, the Mukhabarat (Jordanian Intelligence) and the Taliban, how in the heat of war mistakes were made which cost 8 people their lives and how the CIA tracked down the people responsible for the deaths.

It is a well researched and well written book but loses a star because of the ve...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Wes F rated it 4 of 5 stars

That was a quick read...maybe we ought to lose power more often (from Hurricane Irene). This really was a well-written, fast-paced book, though, with a fascinating story of how a Jordanian doctor got caught up in a daring/brazen al-Qaeda/Taliban (while in the borderlands of Pakistan & Afghanistan on "assignment" for the Jordanian secret police) plan to hit back at the West. Some very difficult & costly lessons were hopefully learned by our intelligence services. Bottom-line: do NOT be in...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Couldn't put down. Gripping, and I believe quite accurate portrayal of the war on terror in the Middle East. Thoroughly researched and sourced. The author doesn't politicize too much. Gave me a good understanding of current espionage practices, military resources and actions, the intense intellectual and soul entrapment Satan holds over committed Muslim minds -- many that are bright, well educated, and the hypocracy of the mainline media and current administration's acceptance of assassination a...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Jeni rated it 4 of 5 stars

A story of how thins went so wrong. a good read.

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Aug 05, 2011 Mitchell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Just a great book. Reads like a Tom Clancy novel, but has the distinction of being actual events. This story was buried somewhat by the infamous "Underwear bomber" of Christmas 2009. I distinctly remember that, but I didn't remember hearing anything about this. Some great insight into the CIA and al-Qaeda operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the famous Predator drone strikes. A sobering ending, one that left me heart-broken thinking about the families of the killed CIA agents, but a...more

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The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA

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