“A most unusual memoirist, Baker is
a government bureaucrat with a philosopher's bent and a passion to
tell you what he didn't achieve. And this tough-minded, candid work
is a cautionary tale to those who slough off hard decisions with a
dismissive claim that we do not have to make choices between our
values and our security. As Baker points out, security is a value
and those who pretend otherwise–be they business interests, privacy
advocates, or international groups–put Americans at risk. His
chilling retelling of the events leading up to 9/11 seem to echo
some of the events of the current day, especially as he reminds us
that Mohamed el Kahtani, the one 9/11 hijacker that was actually
stopped, left this country with the promise "I'll be back."
Kahtani, of course, was later captured, but we need no reminder
that like-minded terrorists remain to threaten us.”
-General Michael Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency
(2006–2009) and director of the National Security Agency
(1999–2005)