Have a bunch of Silicon Valley computer geeks figured out how to stop terrorists?

I was a guest on this week’s “On the Media,” talking about the renewal of the Patriot Act, and whether the Obama administration is secretly interpreting the law in a way that allows the government to collect more information.

Before a team of elite Navy forces stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, they and senior US officials had closely studied a digital mock-up of the facility and even a physical miniature, able to be laid out on a table. It showed them the intelligence community’s best guess about what Bin Laden’s hiding [...]

A draft indictment against former NSA official Thomas Drake, which was never filed, shows that the government contemplated prosecuting him for a range of crimes, including conspiracy. But many of the most serious charges were dropped. Why? And what does it tell us about the Obama administration’s ongoing campaign to staunch leaks of classified information? [...]

The Economist has named The Watchers one of its best books of 2010! I’m honored to be included in such a fine group of authors. The magazine calls the book, “A vivid, well-reported and intellectually sophisticated account of the surveillance state in the wake of the attacks on September 11th 2001.”

I’ve long known that, on many important national security decisions, former president George W. Bush wasn’t in the driver’s seat. But I was shocked to discover that at one of the most critical points of his presidency, Bush wasn’t even in the car. Here’s my review of Bush’s shocking admission, in his new memoir, about [...]

Nick Clegg is taking on the U.K.’s police state. Here’s my analysis for The Daily Beast on what it means for U.S. politicians.

C-SPAN has been re-airing my book talk from the International Spy Museum in Washington. This was on February 18, publication day for The Watchers.

Or do they just help investigators find someone after he’s blown something up? In light of the failed attack on Times Square, I joined “Word of Mouth” on New Hampshire Public Radio to talk about the pros and cons of surveillance cameras. Do we need more? Or are they giving us a false sense of security?

The New York Times review is in today’s paper. Eric Lichtblau, no stranger to the opaque world of surveillance, gave it strong praise:

“it uses smart technical analysis and crisp writing to put the reader inside the room with the watchers and to help better understand the mind-set that gave rise to the modern surveillance state.”

“At its best ‘The Watchers’ provides an insightful glimpse into how Washington works and how ideas are marketed and sold in the back rooms of power, whether the product being peddled is widgets or a radical model for intelligence gathering.”