The Targeter

My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

By: Nada Bakos, Davin Coburn

Narrated by: Christine Lakin

A CIA analyst's of the world of high-stakes foreign intelligence and her role within the campaign to stop top-tier targets inside Al-Qaida.

"Revealing and utterly engrossing account." —Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of Isis​ In 1999, 30-year-old Nada Bakos moved from her lifelong home in Montana to Washington, D.C., to join the CIA. Quickly realizing her affinity for intelligence work, Nada was determined to rise through the ranks of the agency first as an analyst and then as a Targeting Officer, eventually finding herself on the frontline of America's war against Islamic extremists. In this role, Nada was charged with determining if Iraq had a relationship with 9/11 and Al-Qaida, and finding the mastermind behind this terrorist activity: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Her team's analysis stood the test of time, but it was not satisfactory for some members of the Administration. In a tight, tension-packed narrative that takes the reader from Langley deep into Iraq, Bakos reveals the inner workings of the Agency and the largely hidden world of intelligence gathering post 9/11. Entrenched in the world of the CIA, Bakos, along with her colleagues, focused on leading U.S. Special Operations Forces to the doorstep of one of the world's most wanted terrorists. Filled with on-the-ground insights and poignant personal anecdotes, The Targeter shows us the great personal sacrifice that comes with intelligence work. This is Nada's story, but it is also an intimate chronicle of how a group of determined, ambitious men and women worked tirelessly in the heart of the CIA to ensure our nation's safety at home and abroad.

Critic reviews

As heard on NPR's Morning Edition

"This remarkable memoir arrives as another astonishing story of wartime valor."—The New York Times

"Part Zero Dark Thirty, part memoir, The Targeter provides a rare inside look at the CIA's analysis shop at a particularly difficult time: the run-up to the American invasion of Iraq and the early years of the war... will appeal to those who want to learn about the events that presaged the rise of the Islamic State and are curious about the CIA's inner workings."—The Washington Post

"Readers will take from this memoir that the period of Bakos' CIA service was a major inflection point not only in her life, but also in CIA and US foreign policy. This book stands as a testament to the courage and strength of the officers who founded the targeting officer discipline.Readers will take from this memoir that the period of Bakos' CIA service was a major inflection point not only in her life, but also in CIA and US foreign policy. This book stands as a testament to the courage and strength of the officers who founded the targeting officer discipline."—Studies in Intelligence

"A remarkable book."—David Priess, The Lawfare Podcast

"Nada Bakos had a frontline assignment during some of the most important chapters of America's post-9/11 wars. Her well written account of her work at the CIA is fascinating and underlines the many sacrifices she and her colleagues made in the fight against al-Qaeda. Bakos has also written one of the most clear-eyed and interesting accounts of what it is really like working at the CIA."—Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.

"Nada Bakos takes you deep inside the tense, stressful, and driven world of the CIA's analysts as few others have. Life and death issues are on the line more than most know - but Ms. Bakos is one who does and she shows you that in the Targeter with candor, drama, integrity, and grit."—John McLaughlin, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of CIA

"Bakos writes with authority and searing honesty about the demands of her work as a targeter and the dangers and dysfunction of post-invasion Iraq. The result is a gripping behind-the-scenes account of the hunt for one of the world's most brutal terrorists. The combination of a sharp, analytical mind and a genuine humility and humanity underscores why women make some of the best CIA analysts."—Clarissa Ward, Chief International Correspondent for CNN

A Montana girl goes to DC: inside the CIA and the fight for the truth and against extremists

I can't recommend this enough. Nada tells a personal story of service and sacrifice and fighting for facts while standing up against political agendas. Importantly, she shows the human story of those that are serving in our Intelligence Community who are our neighbors and our friends...patriots who give their all for the service of others and, all too often, at great sacrifice to themselves and their families vs some “deep state” portrayed so often in movies and by politicians with personal agendas. This is an important read in a time where false information, attacks on facts, and extremist views and ideologies are front & center across the globe. Nada and those with whom she worked, set an example as to what it means to serve and fight (both inside and outside the Intelligence Community) for the truth.

This book is great

Some of these reviews in here are just silly and do not allow them to sway you from getting this book.

Awesome book

This books is amazing. She started talking about her personal life and how she got into the CIA. Then talked about her work at CIA, and what she did as a targeting officer of a high value target in the was against terrorism. She went from being nobody, to be the leader of one of the most important job inside the US government.

interesting

it's a good book with interesting stories about intelligence and CT. my only issue was with the narrator, who's accent for Arabic speakers sounds more like she's trying to do an Eastern European accent... it bothered me a lot

relatable and intriguing

Fantastic story with relatable emotion but such an intriguing setting. Nada is a fantastic writer.