The Targeter, Nada Bakos
The Targeter, Nada Bakos
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The Targeter
My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

Author: Nada Bakos, Davin Coburn

Narrator: Christine Lakin

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/04/2019

Synopsis

A CIA analyst's "revealing and utterly engrossing account" of the world of high-stakes foreign intelligence and her role within the campaign to stop top-tier targets inside Al-Qaida (Joby Warrick).
In 1999, 30-year-old Nada Bakos moved from her lifelong home in Montana to Washington, D.C., to join the CIA. Quickly realizing her affinity for intelligence work, Nada was determined to rise through the ranks of the agency first as an analyst and then as a Targeting Officer, eventually finding herself on the frontline of America's war against Islamic extremists.
In this role, Nada was charged with determining if Iraq had a relationship with 9/11 and Al-Qaida, and finding the mastermind behind this terrorist activity: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Her team's analysis stood the test of time, but it was not satisfactory for some members of the Administration.
In a tight, tension-packed narrative that takes the reader from Langley deep into Iraq, Bakos reveals the inner workings of the Agency and the largely hidden world of intelligence gathering post 9/11. Entrenched in the world of the CIA, Bakos, along with her colleagues, focused on leading U.S. Special Operations Forces to the doorstep of one of the world's most wanted terrorists.
Filled with on-the-ground insights and poignant personal anecdotes, The Targeter shows us the great personal sacrifice that comes with intelligence work. This is Nada's story, but it is also an intimate chronicle of how a group of determined, ambitious men and women worked tirelessly in the heart of the CIA to ensure our nation's safety at home and abroad.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ed

Lots of action and insights are offered in this eventful and candid account of a lady working for the CIA in the difficult years subsequent to 9/11. She and her team spend a lot of time and effort tracking down and capturing the terrorists active in Iraq. Their dedication and persistence really stan......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin

A true story with the propulsion of a thriller and fascinating details of life in the CIA The true story of a rural Montana girl who took an unlikely path to the center of the U.S. war on terror. The title refers to Bakos's role chasing down one of the most dangerous extremist leaders the U.S. faced......more

Goodreads review by Glen

I won this book in a goodreads drawing. A former CIA agent writes about her life in The Company. It's a lot different than in the espionage novels. Nobody seems to know what they're doing, and there's an awful lot of politicians and bureaucrats involved. She and the agency try to find out about terro......more

Quotes

As heard on NPR's Morning Edition

"This remarkable memoir arrives as another astonishing story of wartime valor."—The New York Times

"Part Zero Dark Thirty, part memoir, The Targeter provides a rare inside look at the CIA's analysis shop at a particularly difficult time: the run-up to the American invasion of Iraq and the early years of the war... will appeal to those who want to learn about the events that presaged the rise of the Islamic State and are curious about the CIA's inner workings."—The Washington Post

"Readers will take from this memoir that the period of Bakos' CIA service was a major inflection point not only in her life, but also in CIA and US foreign policy. This book stands as a testament to the courage and strength of the officers who founded the targeting officer discipline.Readers will take from this memoir that the period of Bakos' CIA service was a major inflection point not only in her life, but also in CIA and US foreign policy. This book stands as a testament to the courage and strength of the officers who founded the targeting officer discipline."—Studies in Intelligence

"A remarkable book."—David Priess, The Lawfare Podcast

"Nada Bakos had a frontline assignment during some of the most important chapters of America's post-9/11 wars. Her well written account of her work at the CIA is fascinating and underlines the many sacrifices she and her colleagues made in the fight against al-Qaeda. Bakos has also written one of the most clear-eyed and interesting accounts of what it is really like working at the CIA."—Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.

"Nada Bakos takes you deep inside the tense, stressful, and driven world of the CIA's analysts as few others have. Life and death issues are on the line more than most know - but Ms. Bakos is one who does and she shows you that in the Targeter with candor, drama, integrity, and grit."—John McLaughlin, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of CIA

"Bakos writes with authority and searing honesty about the demands of her work as a targeter and the dangers and dysfunction of post-invasion Iraq. The result is a gripping behind-the-scenes account of the hunt for one of the world's most brutal terrorists. The combination of a sharp, analytical mind and a genuine humility and humanity underscores why women make some of the best CIA analysts."—Clarissa Ward, Chief International Correspondent for CNN

"A revealing and utterly engrossing account of the campaign to stop the terrorist mastermind behind the rise of ISIS. Former intelligence officer Nada Bakos takes the reader deep inside the CIA's secret war in Iraq with a fast-paced narrative that is at turns thrilling, funny, maddening and remarkably candid."
—Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"The Targeter reads like a suspense novel written in Hollywood. But it's the true story of an unsung hero working to keep America safe and speaking hard truths to those in power. I relied on public servants like Nada to fight the Islamic State. Our country is indebted to their rigor, tradecraft, and dedicated war zone service, which carries a personal toll. This is the first inside account of what it's really like."—Brett McGurk, Former Special Presidential Envoy for Campaign to Defeat ISIS

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