For his new book, Faddis spent months on reconnaissance missions to likely terror targets in U.S infrastructure: dams, rail transportation, military bases, biological research labs and nuclear, chemical and liquid natural gas plants. He roamed along fences, visited authorized areas and otherwise tested security measures. Although his covert experience helped, he obeyed self-imposed ground rules and tried to maintain the perspective of an ordinary visitor.
“I didn’t want people saying it’s not fair because you were a senior [anti-terror operative] in the CIA,” the solemn, silver-bearded Faddis explained during an interview at a burger joint near the Beltway. “I was just Joe Blow. I didn’t do clandestine stuff. If somebody turned me around, I left.”
His findings are a catalogue of danger and negligence. He says he encountered systematically weak, outmoded defenses and poorly-trained personnel more apt at discouraging burglars than stopping suicide terror teams.
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