By clicking “Accept,” you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies on your device as set forth in our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. Please note that certain cookies are essential for this website to function properly and do not require user consent to be deployed.

The Targeter

My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

Contributors

By Nada Bakos

With Davin Coburn

Formats and Prices

On Sale
Jun 4, 2019
Page Count
368 pages
ISBN-13
9780316260459

Price

$14.99

Price

$18.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around June 4, 2019. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

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.

  • 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

Nada Bakos

About the Author

Nada Bakos is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst on the team charged with analyzing the relationship between Iraq, al Qaida, and 9/11, and was the Chief Targeting officer following Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Bakos writes, speaks and appears on broadcast media to discuss national security and foreign policy.

Learn more about this author