Book description
How could a moment of triumph about the Olympic Bid turn into a
catastrophe? These terrible events follow on the continuing
revelations that the intelligence reports that were the government's
basis for the invasion of Iraq were deeply flawed and the recent
admission by the Ministry of Defence that it failed to foresee the
size and ferocity of the Iraq insurgency. Something is very wrong in
how Britain collects and analyses intelligence. In "7-7: What
Went Wrong?", Crispin Black shows that fundamental flaws in our
current approach to calibrating and understanding the terrorist threat
-- an unwillingness for instance to take on board the effects of our
foreign policy on loyalty at home and a generally slack approach to
border security have produced a toxic threat to national security.
Taken all together there is the uncomfortable suspicion that instead
of gathering intelligence, their aim is to please their masters. In
his compelling and authoritative analysis, Black shows the cumulative
threats that have amassed over the years through the slow reactions of
our intelligence and security services -- despite for instance the
repeated warnings of the French and more recent warnings from the
Middle East and the United States. He makes suggestions for reform.
Lt. Col. Crispin Black MBE worked as an intelligence expert for the
Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office until 2002. His
responsibilities included briefing No 10, work for COBRA, the
government's emergency committee, and long-term strategic analysis for
the Joint Intelligence Committee. He currently works for a private
intelligence company. He appears frequently on television for the UK, US
and Australian networks including the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, Sky, CBS,
ABC, CNN, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He has appeared on
the Today Programme, Newsnight and has worked with Greg Dyke, Trevor
McDonald and Jonathan Dimbleby and been a subject for the BBC's Hardtalk
Programme. He appeared extensively as an expert to comment on the London
Bombings and writes for newspapers such as the Guardian. He served as
officer with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands War, was an intelligence
officer in West Belfast eventually specialising in intelligence during
the Balkan crisis in the 1990s. He was educated at Cambridge University
and lives in London.
