Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

The Changing War on Terror

May 17, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
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Is the United States safe enough? That is the fundamental question being asked by the public, policymakers, and members of the Obama Administration after the Boston bombing. What shape is al Qaeda in now and how does it affect those of us living in the United States? While working at the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Counterterrorism Center as an analyst and targeting officer I focused on a loose network in Iraq that eventually grew into the al Qaeda we recognize. From my perspective, we are almost witnessing—today—the reverse engineering of al Qaeda back into its initial state ... Read More

More like this: Politics
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Does It Matter That the CIA Script-Doctored ‘Zero Dark Thirty’?

May 7, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
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Much ado today about Gawker's Freedom of Information Act-driven look at how the Zero Dark Thirty script got written. The Gawker item argues, persuasively, that the CIA script-doctored the movie. We're interested in this because, back in January, former CIA targeting officer (and recent David Letterman sparring partner) Nada Bakos gave Pacific Standard readers her assessment of whether the movie, and its version of post-9/11 intelligence work, differed from the reality. It did, an awful lot, she said. A first-person article like Nada's, and a Hollywood movie have different goals, of course. ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Culture & Society
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How True is Zero Dark Thirty? A Former Operative Weighs In

January 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
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When Pacific Standard called me to ask if I would write about Zero Dark Thirty, I still had not decided whether I wanted to see it. I was leaning toward no. People who work in intelligence don't generally see movies about it. You can enjoy them only once you've been out of the game for a while, and then only if you don’t take it too seriously. I watch Homeland. It’s fun, because it’s a fantasy. Zero Dark Thirty occupied an odd space. It’s not ridiculous enough to allow complete suspension of disbelief. I get that Hollywood needs to sell tickets, but it’s not accurate enough to ... Read More

More like this: Culture, Legal Affairs
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