Inside the war

"The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack" is a remarkably insightful and revealing look at how U.S. counterterrorism agencies and their top players conducted America's attacks on al Qaeda and its affiliates prior to and following September 11.

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"How has the U.S. government reorganized itself to respond to the terrorist threat since September 11? In several revealing chapters, Mr. Kessler describes the work of new agencies, such as the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which was established in 2004 to bring together all the raw intelligence on possible terrorist plots and ensure that the appropriate agencies involved in countering terrorism pursue the leads generated by these reports. As explained to Mr. Kessler by Adm. John Scott Redd, the NCTC's director (who resigned in November 2007), all potential terrorist threats against the United States are updated daily in a 12- to 16-page threat matrix document and various situation reports.

The NCTC also operates the Terrorist Information Datamart Environment, which consists of hyperlinked data on suspicious individuals that form the Terrorist Screening Center's master database of names that are used, for example, in identifying individuals on what are termed "no fly" lists."