National security historian Naftali relates the full backstory of America's attempts to fight terrorism. On September 11, 2001, a long history of failures, missteps, and blind spots in our intelligence services came to a head, with tragic results. At the end of World War II, the OSS had established a system for countering the threats of Nazi terrorists. But those capabilities were soon forgotten, and it wasn't until 1968, when Palestinian groups began a series of airplane hijackings, that the U.S. began to take counterterrorism seriously. Naftali narrates the game of "catch-up" that various administrations and the CIA played, and.shows why holes in U.S. homeland security discovered by Vice President Bush in 1986 were still a problem when his son became President, and why George W. Bush did little to fix them until it was too late. He concludes that liberal democracies like the U.S. are incapable of effectively stopping terrorism.--From publisher description.

The plot to kill General Eisenhower -- Hijacking -- The lessons of Munich 1972 -- "There's very little we can do" -- Lull before the storm -- False start -- Striking back -- The silent struggle -- The new terrorism -- Clinton versus bin Laden -- George W. Bush and bin Laden -- Conclusion: Blindspots and 9/11.