Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda

"Fast paced, gripping . . . [a] well written dive into the arcane world of counterterrorism over the past decade ." ―Foreign Policy

In Counterstrike, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker of The New York Times take readers into a previously hidden theater of war, as U.S. ground troops, intelligence operatives, and top executive branch officials have fashioned effective new strategies to fight terrorism, in sharp contrast to the cowboy slogans that once characterized the U.S. government's public posture. They show how these innovative strategies, drawn from classic Cold War deterrence theory, were employed in the dramatic raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed, and in a new afterword the authors point to the ongoing challenges and successes facing America in the Middle East, in cyberspace, and at home.

Filled with startling revelations about how our national security is being managed, Counterstrike will change the way Americans think about the ongoing struggle with violent radical extremism.