The Interrogators: Inside the Secret War Against al Qaeda

More than 3,000 prisoners in the war on terrorism have been captured, held, and interrogated in Afghanistan alone.But no one knows what transpired in those interactions between prisoner and interrogator-until now. In THE INTERROGATORS, Chris Hogan, the senior interrogator at Bagram Air Base and in Kandahar, where al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were first detained and questioned, lifts the curtain. Soldiers specially trained in the art of interrogation went face-to-face with the enemy. These mental and psychological battles were as grueling, dramatic, and important as any in the war on terrorism. We learn how, under Hogan's command, his small group of 'soldier spies' engineered a breakthrough in interrogation strategy, rewriting techniques and tactics grounded in the Cold War. Hogan reveals the tricks of the trade, and we see how his team-four men and one woman-responded to the pressure and the prisoners. By the time Hogan's group was finished, virtually no prisoner went unbroken. Riveting and illuminating, THE INTERROGATORS is a fascinating work of nonfiction that reads like the most exciting of spy novels. It is the first and only inside account into this world we have never been allowed into and is sure to be one of the most talked about books of 2004.

Chris Mackey joined the army at seventeen and was assigned to the intelligence corps as an interrogator. After 9/11, he was recalled to the United States, assigned to Task Force 500, and subsequently sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He ultimately supervised all military interrogations conducted at the theatre-wide detention facility at Bagram airfield.

Greg Miller is a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.