The Black Banners is a great book that lets you peek behind the curtain to see what life was like for FBI agent Ali Soufan. Through the authors eyes, we are able to see the unfortunate consequences of political infighting between various government agencies which hamstrung investigations and ultimately changed the course of history.

The author describes in detail what it was like to interrogate captured al-Queda operatives and how valuable intelligence was gained from many of these interrogations. The book also highlights many opportunities that were squandered by red tape, politics and inexperienced investigators from other agencies.

The story is told chronologically from the author's first days at The Bureau up through his post 9/11 retirement. In the process, you get a flavor for what it was like to be on the ground in Yemen during the Cole investigation, in Guantanamo Bay post 9/11 and [redacted]. Just kidding about the last bit, although there is a portion of the book which has been redacted at the request of the C.I.A. Fortunately, these redactions do not detract from the overall story being told.