Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America’s War on Terror
Bob Graham
Shining much-needed light on areas the 9/11 Commission preferred to keep dark, Intelligence Matters chronicles the efforts of a historic joint House-Senate inquiry to get to the bottom of our intelligence failures on that infamous day in 2001. Originally published in 2004 amid the media circus surrounding The 9/11 Commission Report, it told more than a riveting tale—it also provided an unflinching expos of failure, incompetence, and deceit at the highest levels of our government.The Joint Inquiry, co-chaired by Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), was the first and arguably most effective government body to investigate the horrendous 2001 attacks. Indeed, it helped compel a reluctant George W. Bush to establish the 9/11 Commission. But while both investigations sharply criticized the failures of our nation’s intelligence establishment, only Graham’s dared to challenge the Bush administration on a number of troubling points-especially the apparent complicity of Saudi officials in the events of 9/11, the subsequent protection provided by President Bush for a large number of Saudis (including members of the bin Laden family), and the run-up to the Iraq War, which Graham voted against.The original work combined a compelling narrative of 9/11 with an insightful eyewitness chronicle of the Joint Inquiry’s investigation, conclusions, and recommendations. Sharply critiquing the failures at the CIA, FBI, and the White House and detailing at least twelve occasions when the 9/11 plot could have been stopped, it concluded with a clear plan for overhauling our intelligence and national security establishment. For this paperback edition, Graham has added a substantial new preface and postscript that lucidly examine how effectively the nation has responded—or failed to respond—to the Joint Inquiry’s recommendations.This edition restores Intelligence Matters to its rightful place as one of the key texts on the subject of 9/11 and provides a grim reminder of the challenges that remain for us in the war on terror.
About the author
Bob Graham
Daniel Robert “Bob” Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American politician and author. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005.
Graham tried unsuccessfully to run for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race on October 6, 2003. He announced his retirement from the Senate on November 3 of that year.
Graham is now concentrating his efforts on the newly established Bob Graham Center for Public Service at his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Florida. He served as Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD proliferation and terrorism. Through the WMD policy center he advocates for the recommendations in the Commission report, World at Risk.
Graham also served as co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the CIA External Advisory Board.
In 2011, Graham published his first novel, the thriller The Keys to the Kingdom. Graham has written three non-fiction books. Workdays-Finding Florida on the Job; Intelligence Matters and America: The Owners Manual.
(Goodreads.com)
