Josh Meyer, an instructor at Medill and part of the graduate journalism program’s National Security Journalism Initiative spoke at the National Press Club April 11 about his new book, “The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.” Although Meyer’s story of hunting down and capturing a terrorist mastermind is fascinating on its own, there were ample discussion points from his talk that might be of interest to journalists. He powered through his allergies to tell us about his book, published March 26, and here’s some of what he shared:
Pro-level elbow-rubbing. Being at the right parties, knowing a thing or two about schmoozing with feds and multiple beers helped yield a name – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – from some recalcitrant FBI agents, and that eventually led to a story. Broadly, just knowing how a beat’s constituent bureaucracies work is helpful. For FBI Special Agent Frank Pellegrino, who investigated KSM from his desk in New York, the task of tracking international terrorists was backwater assignment as far as the FBI’s organization goes before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Understanding the organization’s attitude and structure can help guide questions or streamline looking for the right phone number, Meyer said.
News nutrition. The issue of journalistic vegetables and candy is hard to escape on any beat. Meyer explained that everyone knows who Osama bin Laden was and understands that he was the leader of the group that planned and executed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But most miss or don’t know that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is the guy who planned and supervised that and other Al Qaeda’s operations. If he wasn’t captured, KSM would have likely kept plotting attacks, even with bin Laden out of the picture. Part of telling KSM’s story and the story of the people hunting him means explaining not just why it all matters, but making that explanation interesting. That’s important in any story. Having not read the book, it’s hard to say for sure in the case of “The Hunt for KSM,” but the background of a harrowing international manhunt might have helped.
On book writing:
- “Orders of magnitude harder.” If you know a little math, that should be pretty descriptive. Meyer mentioned long car rides spent with FBI agents and many hours spent at transcribing. Essentially, the watchword was “more.” More interviews, more transcribing, more time – much more than with any news article.
- On the other hand, book writing, as onerous as it can be, makes for better interviews. Books, naturally, take longer to write, have longer deadlines and require a lot more detail. That means more time to spend with sources. More time means more interesting information.
- When picking a topic, Meyer recommended, think of the story you just can’t get out of your head. He said the idea of KSM and the guys tracking him had been on his mind for years.
On Karachi, Pakistan: “The craziest place in the world,” Meyer said, meaning dangerous.
Beyond all that, the story of mismanaged bureaucracy and bungling on the part of the government is enough to make a journalist remember why the job is so important. When you have then- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, saying the 9/11 plan inconceivable when there were memos about terrorist similar plots floating around the intelligence community for years, it can be upsetting. If you’re the type of reporter that finds inspiration in helping people or telling stories, that’s fine. If you’re the kind that likes terrorizing authority and sticking it to the Man or exposing government corruption and ineptitude then this book can make for some good inspiration.
