Reader recommendation: Intelligence Matters
Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.
Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America's War on Terror was written by former Senator Bob Graham from Florida, based on what he learned during the 10 years that he served on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The central issues were the 9/11 attacks and how they were planned and carried out without the CIA and the FBI discovering and preventing the attacks. Sen. Graham reports that there were 12 instances when the 9/11 plot could have been discovered and potentially foiled, had we been mentally alert. For example, Saudi citizens were enrolled in American commercial flight schools, with no desire to learn how to take off or land, only to fly. This was reported in the newspapers and to the FBI, but was not responded to by further FBI actions.