List of Illustrations and Tables p. ix
Member List p. xi
Staff List p. xiii
Preface p. xv
"We have some Planes" p. 1
Inside the Four Flights p. 1
Improvising a Homeland Defense p. 14
National Crisis Management p. 35
The Foundation of the New Terrorism p. 47
A Declaration of War p. 47
Bin Ladin's Appeal in the Islamic World p. 48
The Rise of Bin Ladin and al Qaeda (1988-1992) p. 55
Building an Organization, Declaring War on the United States (1992-1996) p. 59
Al Qaeda's Renewal in Afghanistan (1996-1998) p. 63
Counterterrorism Evolves p. 71
From the Old Terrorism to the New: The First World Trade Center Bombing p. 71
Adaptation--and Nonadaptation--in the Law Enforcement Community p. 73
... and in the Federal Aviation Administration p. 82
... and in the Intelligence Community p. 86
... and in the State Department and the Defense Department p. 93
... and in the White House p. 98
... and in the Congress p. 102
Responses to al Qaeda's Initial Assaults p. 108
Before the Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania p. 108
Crisis: August 1998 p. 115
Diplomacy p. 121
Covert Action p. 126
Searching for Fresh Options p. 134
Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland p. 145
Terrorist Entrepreneurs p. 145
The "Planes Operation" p. 153
The Hamburg Contingent p. 160
A Money Trail? p. 169
From Threat to Threat p. 174
The Millennium Crisis p. 174
Post-Crisis Reflection: Agenda for 2000 p. 182
The Attack on the USS Cole p. 190
Change and Continuity p. 198
The New Administration's Approach p. 203
The Attack Looms p. 215
First Arrivals in California p. 215
The 9/11 Pilots in the United States p. 223
Assembling the Teams p. 231
Final Strategies and Tactics p. 241
"The System was Blinking Red" p. 254
The Summer of Threat p. 254
Late Leads--Mihdhar, Moussaoui, and KSM p. 266
Heroism and Horror p. 278
Preparedness as of September 11 p. 278
September 11, 2001 p. 285
Emergency Response at the Pentagon p. 311
Analysis p. 315
Wartime p. 325
Immediate Responses at Home p. 326
Planning for War p. 330
"Phase Two" and the Question of Iraq p. 334
Foresight--and Hindsight p. 339
Imagination p. 339
Policy p. 348
Capabilities p. 350
Management p. 353
What to Do? A Global Strategy p. 361
Reflecting on a Generational Challenge p. 361
Attack Terrorists and Their Organizations p. 365
Prevent the Continued Growth of Islamist Terrorism p. 374
Protect against and Prepare for Terrorist Attacks p. 383
How to Do it? A Different Way of Organizing the Government p. 399
Unity of Effort across the Foreign-Domestic Divide p. 400
Unity of Effort in the Intelligence Community p. 407
Unity of Effort in Sharing Information p. 416
Unity of Effort in the Congress p. 419
Organizing America's Defenses in the United States p. 423
Common Abbreviations p. 429
Table of Names p. 431
Commission Hearings p. 439
Notes p. 449