On the National Security Beat

A new book from Josh Meyer of the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative is “a gripping tale of international intrigue and a compelling portrait of one of the most evil men in history,” its publisher promises. “The Hunt for KSM reads like a thriller but is all too real. It provides a window into the deep dysfunction that plagued the intelligence community before and after 9/11.”

Meyer and co-author Terry McDermott say Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the focus of the book, “is the prototype of the modern, stateless enemy likely to haunt the United States for decades to come.”

Meyer began covering terrorism a year before 9/11, while a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He is now director of education and outreach for the NSJI in Washington. McDermott was also a Los Angeles Times reporter, serving as national correspondent. He is the author of Perfect Soldiers and101 Theory Drive.

The Khalid Sheikh Mohammed case is still important, McDermott and Meyer say, because “U.S. foreign and security policies have undergone huge transformation because of 9/11. Assessing whether those changes were appropriate-or too much or too little-will occupy policy makers for a long time. Some of the institutional problems that allowed to plot and attack for so long remain in place.

“And the specific way in which and his cohorts were handled has affected U.S. standing in the world, especially in the Islamic world, and diluted the country’s ability to argue against other country’s judicial and human rights abuses.”