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Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent
Random House
June 2008
On Sale: June 3, 2008
288 pages
ISBN: 1400065690
EAN: 9781400065691
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
For decades, Fred Burton, a key figure in international
counterterrorism and domestic spycraft, has secretly been on
the front lines in the fight to keep Americans safe around
the world. Now, in this hard-hitting memoir, Burton emerges
from the shadows to reveal who he is, what he has
accomplished, and the threats that lurk unseen except by an
experienced, world-wise few. In the mid-eighties, the idea of defending Americans against
terrorism was still new. But a trio of suicide bombings in
Beirut–including one that killed 241 marines and forced our
exit from Lebanon–had changed the mindset and mission of the
Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), the arm of the State
Department that protects U.S. embassy officials across the
globe. Burton, a member of DSS’s tiny but elite
Counterterrorism Division, was plunged into a murky world of
violent religious extremism spanning the streets of Middle
Eastern cities and the informant-filled alleys of American
slums. From battling Libyan terrorists and their Palestinian
surrogates to having facing down hijackers, hostages, and
Hezbollah double agents, Burton found himself on the front
lines of America’s first campaign against Terror. In this globe-trotting account of one counterterrorism
agent’s life and career, Burton takes us behind the scenes
to reveal how the United States tracked Libya-linked master
terrorist Abu Nidal; captured Ramzi Yusef, architect of the
1993 World Trade Center bombing; and pursued the assassins
of major figures including Yitzhak Rabin, Meir Kahane, and
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the president of
Pakistan–classic cases that have sobering new meaning in the
treacherous years since 9/11. Here, too, is Burton’s advice
on personal safety for today’s most powerful CEOs, gleaned
from his experience at Stratfor, the private firm Barron’s
calls “the shadow CIA.” Told in a no-holds-barred, gripping, nuanced style that
illuminates a complex and driven man, Ghost is both a
riveting read and an illuminating look into the shadows of
the most important struggle of our time.
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