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The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller's FBI and the War on Global Terror Paperback – Illustrated, February 9, 2012
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Covering more than 30 years of history, from the 1980s through Obama's presidency, The Threat Matrix explores the transformation of the FBI from a domestic law enforcement agency, handling bank robberies and local crimes, into an international intelligence agency -- with more than 500 agents operating in more than 60 countries overseas -- fighting extremist terrorism, cyber crimes, and, for the first time, American suicide bombers.
Based on access to never-before-seen task forces and FBI bases from Budapest, Hungary, to Quantico, Virginia, this book profiles the visionary agents who risked their lives to bring down criminals and terrorists both here in the U.S. and thousands of miles away long before the rest of the country was paying attention to terrorism. Given unprecedented access, thousands of pages of once secret documents, and hundreds of interviews, Garrett M. Graff takes us inside the FBI and its attempt to protect America from the Munich Olympics in 1972 to the attempted Times Square bombing in 2010. It also tells the inside story of the FBI's behind-the-scenes fights with the CIA, the Department of Justice, and five White Houses over how to combat terrorism, balance civil liberties, and preserve security. The book also offers a never-before-seen intimate look at FBI Director Robert Mueller, the most important director since Hoover himself.
Brilliantly reported and suspensefully told, The Threat Matrix peers into the darkest corners of this secret war and will change your view of the FBI forever.
- Print length704 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBack Bay Books
- Publication dateFebruary 9, 2012
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100316068608
- ISBN-13978-0316068604
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Editorial Reviews
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"Action-filled, richly detailed portrait of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its new guise--charged not just with solving crimes already committed, but now with preventing at least some of them...There's solid storytelling at work here--and quite a story to tell, too."
―Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"The Threat Matrix is...a well-told story and a reading pleasure."
―The CIA journal Studies in Intelligence (September 2011)
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Back Bay Books
- Publication date : February 9, 2012
- Edition : Illustrated
- Language : English
- Print length : 704 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0316068608
- ISBN-13 : 978-0316068604
- Item Weight : 1.3 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #288 in Terrorism (Books)
- #303 in Law Enforcement Politics
- #1,310 in Political Intelligence
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist, bestselling historian, and regular TV commentator, has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security—helping to explain where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
Today, he serves as the director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program, and is a contributor to WIRED, Longreads, and CNN. He’s written for publications from Esquire to the New York Times, and served as the editor of two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine, which he helped lead to its first National Magazine Award, the industry’s highest honor.
Graff is the author of multiple books, including "The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House," which examined the role of technology in the 2008 presidential race, and "The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI," which traces the history of the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts. His book, "Raven Rock," a national bestseller, about the government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, was published in May 2017, and his most recent book, co-authored with John Carlin, examined the rise of cyber threats, "Dawn of the Code War: America's Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat."
Previously, he was the founding editor of mediaBistro.com’s FishbowlDC (www.FishbowlDC.com), a popular blog that covers the media and journalism in Washington, and co-founder of EchoDitto, Inc., a multi-million-dollar Washington, D.C.-based internet strategy consulting firm. During his time at FishbowlDC, he was the first blogger admitted to cover a White House press briefing in 2005, a moment considered significant enough that his reporter’s notebook from that first briefing is on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. A Vermont native, he served as deputy national press secretary on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and, beginning in 1997, was then-Governor Dean’s first webmaster.
He taught at Georgetown University for seven years, including courses on journalism and technology, and his writing and commentary has appeared in publications like the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New York, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone, 5280, Politico, AARP Magazine, Eater, Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, USA Today, GQ UK, NextCity, and he has appeared on CBS This Morning, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBC, the BBC, Al Jazeera English, the History Channel, National Geographic, and various NPR programs, including “This American Life,” “Fresh Air,” and “All Things Considered.”
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Customers find the book easy to read and well-written, with one noting it's detailed without being dull. Moreover, the information quality receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as a fascinating account that provides excellent insight into FBI history.
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Customers find the book easy to read and well-written, with one customer noting it's detailed without being dull.
"This history of the FBI is very well written and researched with it forthcoming on the Bureau's 80th birthday, 17 June...." Read more
"...I'm not a fan of nonfiction books, but this reads like a better-than Tom Clancy book...." Read more
"...It is well written and tells an interesting story that is not always (in fact, mostly not) favorable to the FBI...." Read more
"...It is a phenomenal book on the beginnings of the FBI and CIA from their inceptions to the present. I highly recommend it!" Read more
Customers praise the book's information quality, describing it as a fascinating account that provides excellent insight into FBI history and serves as a page-turner of intrigue.
"...The FBI story is told especially well in the "flash back vignettes" that exquisitely provides the background the reader requires to view the FBI..." Read more
"...It is well written and tells an interesting story that is not always (in fact, mostly not) favorable to the FBI...." Read more
"...culture, the portraits of people who are now in the news are informative and believable...." Read more
"...By anchoring the book around key FBI insiders — above all the estimable Robert Mueller — Graff humanizes the history, analysis and dates. A must-read." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2013This history of the FBI is very well written and researched with it forthcoming on the Bureau's 80th birthday, 17 June. The Nash incident in Kansas City , MO (KC Massacre) was used to justify anti-crime laws that professionalized The Bureau. The FBI story is told especially well in the "flash back vignettes" that exquisitely provides the background the reader requires to view the FBI legacy. The agency has expanded from 441 agents at that time to 13,500, now serving in 60 countries.
"This is the story of the world these men and others created, the precedents they set, and the cases they worked that together established the groundwork for how we combat terrorism and international crime today." I very much appreciated chapter one, 1972, which brought me back to what I witnessed but had forgotten.
The book is divided in three sections chronologically with personal stories that were interviewed by the author on many agents and officials of the FBI which produced a well organized story that provides much credit to the agency. This work appears to have not been sanctioned by the agency and the author was provided full cooperation to compose the material. I found the chapter on SCOTBOM fascinating as to how the FBI had matured to inter-actor with other international organizations to bring the Lockerbie bombers' to justice.
This book provides excellent reference for the history of the FBI and recommend it to the interested reader.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2011I, too, heard the NPR Diane Rehm interview with this author yesterday. I downloaded the sample and immediately started reading it. I just downloaded the book on my Kindle and can hardly put it down! I'm not a fan of nonfiction books, but this reads like a better-than Tom Clancy book. The memories of the Germany-hosted Olympics where the Israeli athletes were mowed down by Palestine terrorists and then the Southern Airlines terror of having to fly back and forth from USA to Cuba are fully described in the early chapters of The Threat Matrix. What an awakening to terror from the "gangsta" days of J.Edgar Hoover!! This book is going to fly off the shelves and into the Kindles when the accolades get out!
Thank you, Amazon, for making it immediately available!!
- Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2011I bought this book thinking that it would deal with the current terrorist threats to the US. It does somewhat but only after telling the FBI story from the start to the present day. It is well written and tells an interesting story that is not always (in fact, mostly not) favorable to the FBI. Once you finish the book I will be suprised if you have any confidence left in the FBI to protect the country from any serious terrorist threat in the future. That will be partially because of the bumbling of the FBI and then in greater part because the threats come from so many sources and are so hard to detect.
I grew up in the era where the FBI was held in god like esteem. This book walks us through that time period exposing the total dysfunctionality of the Hoover G men. It clearly details how we, the public, have been lied to and deceived by our chief law enforment department. After reading this you will understand why the current "Fast and Furious" debacle is just business as usual. I recommend this book to any one that wants to understand why the FBI is now held in such low esteem and why other agency's are being created to try to fill the void left the repeated failures of the FBI.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2018I bought this book after hearing Garrett Graff inteviewed on NPR. It was one of the best reads ever! Because it was written some time before our current political culture, the portraits of people who are now in the news are informative and believable. It is a phenomenal book on the beginnings of the FBI and CIA from their inceptions to the present. I highly recommend it!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2019I enjoy movies and books about the CIA and FBI in general but this book was really interesting because it is factual and still a great read. Wow some nights I put it down and tried to sleep and I felt somewhat afraid. The men and women of the FBI are all amazing and we could never pay them enough or thank them enough for their daily sacrifices.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2018Garrett Graff does a splendid job of blending suspenseful narration of all the key FBI international investigations, from Lockerbie to 9-11 and beyond, with a detailed and fascinating account of the FBI’s shotgun evolution from Hoover’s paper-driven domestic-focused agency to a truly global and digitized investigatory and intelligence-gathering force. By anchoring the book around key FBI insiders — above all the estimable Robert Mueller — Graff humanizes the history, analysis and dates. A must-read.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2012A great read for those interested in criminal justice and seeing how the Feds do terrorist-capturing work in these critical times. A lot of names to remember throughout the book, but overall a great book.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2019Graff is a natural storyteller, which makes this book fascinating to read. He splits the book into sections which are in chronological order, starting with the inception and on through the Mueller years. This is a must read for anyone interested in the FBI.
Top reviews from other countries
- roromindReviewed in Germany on January 15, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Insight !!
Really worthwhile reading