Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

It was September 11, 2001. Richard Clarke had been in a conference in the Ronald Reagan building when he heard that American Airlines Flight 11 had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center: I'll be there in 5 minutes, he responded, giving instructions to convene the Counterterrorism Security Group, which he had chaired since 1992, contact the Federal Aviation Administration, and to set up a high-level video conference. In his car on his way back to the Situation Room in the West Wing of the White House, he looked at the clock on his car's dashboard: 9:03 AM. He arrived first at Vice President Dick Cheney's office, where he found the Vice President and National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice: since he chaired the counter-terrorism committee, she asked his advice. Clarke's advice was, first, to not assume the attack was over--and, second, to evacuate the...