The Center for a New American Security
(CNAS) cordially invites you to the inaugural book release party for COUNTERSTRIKE: The Untold Story of
America’s Secret Campaign Against al Qaeda by acclaimed New York Times national
security reporters and former CNAS Writers
in Residence Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker. On Thursday, September 8,
2011, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - just a few days before the tenth
anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks - Schmitt and Shanker will give an
insider’s look on how the U.S. government has adapted its strategy for fighting
terrorism since 2001. Steve Inskeep, host of NPR's Morning Edition, will
guide an informed conversation followed by Q&A with the audience. Please RSVP online or call 202-457-9427.
COUNTERSTRIKE
will be on sale and the authors will be available to sign copies during the
book-signing cocktail reception from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
In the years following the 9/11
attacks, the United States waged a "war on terror" that sought to
defeat Al Qaeda through brute force. But it soon became clear that this
strategy was not working, and by 2005 the Pentagon began looking for a new way.
In COUNTERSTRIKE,
Schmitt and Shanker tell the story of how a group of analysts within the
military, at spy agencies, and in law enforcement has fashioned an innovative
and effective new strategy to fight terrorism, unbeknownst to most Americans
and in sharp contrast to the cowboy slogans that characterized the U.S.
government's public posture.chmitt and Shanker take readers deep into this
theater of war, as ground troops, intelligence operatives, and top executive
branch officials have worked together to redefine and restrict the geography
available for Al Qaeda to operate in. They also show how these new
counterterrorism strategies, adopted under George W. Bush and expanded under
Barack Obama, were successfully employed in planning and carrying out the
dramatic May 2011 raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed.
About the Speakers
Eric Schmitt is a
terrorism correspondent for The
New York Times and has embedded with troops in Iraq, Somalia, and
Pakistan. Schmitt has twice been a member of Times
reporting teams that were awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Thom Shanker,
a Pentagon correspondent for The
New York Times, routinely spends time embedded with troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Shanker was formerly a foreign editor and correspondent for
the Chicago Tribune,
based in Moscow, Berlin, and Sarajevo.
Steve Inskeep
is host of NPR's Morning
Edition, the most widely heard radio news program in the United
States. Inskeep has traveled across the nation and around the world for Morning Edition and NPR
News. After the September 11 attacks, Inskeep covered the war in Afghanistan,
the hunt for al-Qaeda suspects in Pakistan, and the war in Iraq.