Disruption: Inside the Largest Counterterrorism Investigation in History

by Aki J. Peritz

Overview

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
A Christian Science Monitor Best Read of 2021
Neave Book Prize shortlist

Al Qaeda did not stop after 9/11. Its reign of terror continued with bombings and mayhem across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. But its frustration grew as the group failed to fundamentally undermine America and its allies. 

Five years later the time was ripe for another spectacular mega-plot. Fresh from masterminding the London Underground carnage, one veteran operative set in motion a new operation to destroy passenger aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean—and kill thousands of people in the process.  

Disruption tells the story of that conspiracy and the heroic efforts by the intelligence services of the United States, Great Britain, and Pakistan to uncover and crush it. From the streets of London to the training camps of Pakistan to the corridors of power in Washington DC, the story unfolds with murders, double-crosses, probes, jailbreaks, and explosions.

Former counterterrorism analyst Aki J. Peritz brings the story to life with vivid imagery, interviews with top intelligence officials, and never-before-seen declassified documents. Disruption is the not-to-be-missed account of the race to stop a terrorist conspiracy that would have remade our world—forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640123809
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	12/01/2021
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	1,151,486
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Aki J. Peritz is the coauthor of Find, Fix, Finish: Inside the Counterterrorism Campaigns that Killed Bin Laden and Devastated Al Qaeda. He is a frequent commentator on national security issues for CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and NPR, and has published in the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and Politico.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Major Characters
List of Abbreviations
Author’s Note
1. The Killer beside You
2. Baker’s Boy
3. Triple A
4. Recruits
5. Ali’s Evolution
6. Incident on the Tube
7. Bang/Fizz
8. The Rosewater Solution
9. Glimmers
10. The Dilemma
11. Rendezvous in Lloyd Park
12. Pattern of Life
13. Wedding Videos
14. Probe
15. “Today’s Date Is September 12, 2001”
16. Sarwar’s Hole
17. Transatlantic Tensions
18. Skin Infection
19. Our Citizens, Our Planes
20. It Fell out of My Pocket
21. The Railway Crossing
22. Fellowship Is Life
23. Scramble
24. The System Worked?
25. Rashid Rauf’s Second Chance
26. The Twisting Road
27. A Fine Balance
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Codenames and Nicknames
Appendix 2: Operations
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

10/18/2021

National security analyst Peritz (Find, Fix, Finish) delivers a hair-raising look at a terrorist plot foiled by British and U.S. intelligence agencies in 2006. He tracks the plot’s mastermind, Rashid Rauf, from Birmingham, England, where he grew up in “a strict religious home” in the 1990s, to Pakistan, where he fled after becoming a suspect in his uncle’s murder, and joined a Kashmiri jihadist network with links to al-Qaeda. In July 2005, operatives trained by Rauf launched two “coordinated suicide attack” on London’s transportation system, one of which was unsuccessful. Seeking to “shake the infidels to their core,” Rauf plotted to bring down seven passenger planes with small, liquid hydrogen peroxide–based bombs that could be disguised as bottles of soda. British intelligence services already had members of his terrorist cell under surveillance, however, and observed them buying large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and other bomb-making materials. Many of the conspirators were eventually convicted in British courts, but Rauf escaped from Pakistani custody and was likely killed in a CIA drone strike or Pakistani air strike, though his death has never been officially confirmed. Peritz gets deep into the weeds of the various terrorist cells involved, but paints a detailed portrait of a tragedy narrowly averted. Readers will gain new appreciation for what it takes to stop the next terrorist attack. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Some of the measures put in place since 9/11, as inconvenient as they may be, have undoubtedly saved lives. We might still debate their usefulness and legality, but we should do so with a full understanding of their results. Disruption is a valuable contribution to that understanding."—Samuel Sweeney, Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

★ 2021-09-28
A journalist specializing in national security issues details the investigation and frustration of a major al-Qaida terrorist attack.

The events of 9/11 constituted America’s most significant terrorist attack, and Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Towerdelivered a brilliant account of its background. Americans may be vaguely aware of 7/7, the British equivalent. On July 7, 2005, three suicide bombers blew themselves up on the London Tube, a fourth on a London bus. All were British subjects. In a bizarre and unrelated follow-up, five men attempted a repeat two weeks later. One changed his mind, and four poorly designed bombs fizzled. Peritz delivers vivid accounts of these attacks, but he has bigger fish to fry. The masterminds of the second attack (among the thousands of British nationals traveling back and forth from Pakistan), seeking to learn from their mistakes, planned a larger suicide operation with better bombs to be detonated aboard trans-Atlantic passenger planes. By this time in 2006, British security was paying close attention, with the assistance of the far larger and more pugnacious American CIA, whose doctrine was that there would never be another 9/11. More concerned with civil rights, the British aimed to gather information that would stand up in a courtroom, so they (and the author) meticulously followed and observed the plotters. Unexpectedly, the CIA jumped the gun by arresting the leader in Pakistan, forcing the British to round up everyone in London. As a result, the subsequent trials did not turn out as well as expected, although many defendants received long prison terms. Readers will struggle to remember Peritz’s vast cast of characters as well as the minutiae of their movements, but his massive research and interviews tell a gripping story with a more or less happy ending. The plot was foiled, and Western security agencies have gotten their acts together so that mass (but not individual) terrorist attacks are less likely.

An outstanding contribution to the literature of terrorism and counterterrorism.

Kirkus Reviews