On September 11th, 2001, Richard Clarke, chair of the Counterterrorism Security Group (CSG), directed the United States' immediate response to the terrorist attacks from the Situation Room in the West Wing of the White House. Clarke published this narrative in 2004--to set the record straight on national security issues about which there was general confusion among his fellow citizens: In 2000, the new National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, had requested he stay on to develop a plan for spinning CSG tasks to other agencies. Clarke was scheduled to assume a new position--as chair of the new committee on Critical Infrastructure Protection and Cyber-Security--in October 2001. This book describes his 30 years of public service, primarily in national security and counter terrorism.