From the senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, a mesmerizing real-time portrayal of September 11th, 2001, why we weren't told the truth, and why our nation is still at risk
As one of the primary authors of the 9/11 Commission Report, John Farmer is proud of his and his colleagues' work. Yet he came away from the experience convinced that there was a further story of the September 11th attacks to be told, one he was uniquely qualified to write.
Now that shocking story can be told. Tape recordings, transcripts, and contemporaneous records that had been classified have since been declassified, and the inspector general's investigations of government conduct have been completed. Drawing on his knowledge of those sources, as well as his years as an attorney in public and private practice, Farmer reconstructs what happened on September 11th, 2001 and the disastrous circumstances that allowed it: the institutionalized disconnect between what those on the ground knew and what those in power did. He details--terrifyingly and illuminatingly--the key moments in the years, months, weeks, and days that preceded the attacks, then descends almost in real time through the attacks themselves, portraying them as they have never before been seen.
Ultimately, Farmer builds the inescapably convincing case that the official version not only is almost entirely untrue but serves to create a false impression of order and American national security. The result is "a major, carefully documented and deeply disturbing book, one that deserves the most serious attention of every American concerned about our future" (Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author).
John Farmer served as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission from 2003 to 2004 and assisted in writing The 9/11 Commission Report. Cleared to Top Secret/SC1 level, his areas of responsibility included assessing the national response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, evaluating the current state of national preparedness, and assessing the current state of private sector preparedness for terrorist attacks.
As Attorney General for the State of New Jersey from 1999 to 2002, he supervised nearly 10,000 employees (including more than 700 lawyers and nearly 3,000 state troopers) in ten divisions in the Department of Law and Public Safety, including the Divisions of Law, Criminal Justice, Civil Rights, Consumer Affairs, Gaming Enforcement, Highway Traffic Safety, Juvenile Justice, State Police, Elections, and Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Farmer also supervised the state's Office of Emergency Management and oversaw New Jersey's response to Hurricane Floyd in 1999; worked to anticipate the Y2K and potential emergency impact of the millennium; and coordinated the State's response to both the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax attacks later that same year.
Farmer has also served as chief counsel to New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, as a federal prosecutor, and as a security expert to the special envoy for Middle East regional security.
Over the past six years, Farmer has lectured and written extensively on post-9/11 safety and security issues, and published safety and security-related pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, Newark Star Ledger, the New Jersey Lawyer, and other publications. He has also spoken on panels at Harvard Law School, the University of Southern California, Willamette Law School, and Johns Hopkins University's Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
FEMA-certified in all-hazards disaster planning and mitigation, Farmer has consulted with a wide range of institutions and officials on everything from port security issues to private sector preparedness. In July 2009, he left the New Jersey law firm in which he was a founding partner in order to accept an appointment as Dean of Rutgers School of Law in Newark, where he had previously taught national security law.
