The Bureau - by Ronald Kessler (Paperback)

About the Book

Now with updated information since its hardcover release in May 2001, Kessler's detailed history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveals why the FBI was unprepared for the attacks of September 11th, and how the FBI is combating terrorism today. Martin's Press.

Book Synopsis

No institution is as critically important to America's security. No American institution is as controversial. And, after the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court, no institution is as powerful. Yet until now, no book has presented the full story of the FBI from its beginnings in 1908 to the present...

The Bureau
The Secret History of the FBI

Based on exclusive interviews-including the first interview with Robert Mueller since his nomination as director-The Bureau reveals why the FBI was unprepared for the attacks of September 11 and how the FBI is combating terrorism today. The book answers such questions as: Why did the FBI know nothing useful about al-Qaeda before September 11? What is really behind the FBI's more aggressive investigative approaches that have raised civil liberties concerns? What does the FBI think of improvements in airline security? How safe does the FBI think America really is?

An Award-winning investigative reporter and New York Times bestselling author of Inside the White House, Ronald Kessler answers these questions and presents the definitive history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Bureau reveals startling new information-from J. Edgar Hoover's blackmailing of Congress to the investigation of the September 11th attacks.

From the Back Cover

No institution is as critically important to America's security. No American institution is as controversial. And, after the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court, no institution is as powerful. Yet until now, no book has presented the full story of the FBI from its beginnings in 1908 to the present...

The Bureau
The Secret History of the FBI

Based on exclusive interviews-including the first interview with Robert Mueller since his nomination as director-The Bureau reveals why the FBI was unprepared for the attacks of September 11 and how the FBI is combating terrorism today. The book answers such questions as: Why did the FBI know nothing useful about al-Qaeda before September 11? What is really behind the FBI's more aggressive investigative approaches that have raised civil liberties concerns? What does the FBI think of improvements in airline security? How safe does the FBI think America really is?

An Award-winning investigative reporter and New York Times bestselling author of Inside the White House, Ronald Kessler answers these questions and presents the definitive history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Bureau reveals startling new information-from J. Edgar Hoover's blackmailing of Congress to the investigation of the September 11th attacks.

"A compelling and timely exposition of the real FBI."
--"Los Angeles Times"

"Kessler, whose reporting led to the downfall of director William Sessions, writes an absorbing, fast-paced narrative based upon his extensive access to FBI files and personnel."
--"Library Journal"

Review Quotes

"An insightful history of the agency from its inception...reveals unexpected details surrounding a number of well known cases."--"Providence Journal-Bulletin"

About the Author

Ronald Kessler is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve works of non-fiction, including The Sins of the Father, Inside the CIA, Inside Congress, The Season, and Inside the White House. A former Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post investigative reporter, Kessler has won sixteen journalism awards, including two George Polk awards and the Associated Press' Sevellon Brown Memorial Award. He lives with his wife, Pamela, in Potomac, Maryland.