Against All Enemies | Characters & Character Analysis

Against All Enemies Important People

Richard Clarke

Clarke is both the author and protagonist of this book. Most of his work--under four U.S. presidents--dealt directly with national security and, specifically, counterterrorism: In the course of his career, Clarke was the first government official to address terrorist financing, airline security, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) falling into terrorist hands. Clarke resigned from federal service in 2003, after the U.S. invaded Iraq.

This book, his personal narrative about his experiences on the forefront of U.S. counterterrorism policy, was--except for its final chapter, which critiqued the first year of the invasion and offered a series of explicit recommendations--written retrospectively, from memory. Clarke published his personal narrative as a counterweight to the minimal sense of history and the world around them exhibited by most U.S. citizens and journalists. His goal was didactic, to inform. He considers the book, which was published in 2004, his fulfillment of his obligation to his...
(read more)