A former FBI special agent offers an insider's account of how the September 11th attacks could have been prevented, as well as his role in the war on terror, including his highly effective interrogation efforts.

For General Michael Hayden, playing to the edge means playing so close to the line that you get chalk dust on your cleats. Otherwise, by playing back, you may protect yourself, but you will be less successful in protecting America. "Play to the edge" was Hayden's guiding principle when he ran the National Security Agency, and it remained so when he ran CIA. How did American intelligence respond to terrorism, a major war and the most sweeping technological...