Disruption by Aki J. Peritz
It begins like a thriller with Al Qaeda simultaneously blowing up several airliners over the Atlantic. The shockwaves buffet the airline industry, panic citizens of many countries and trigger an economic recession.
So goes the fictional prelude to the nonfiction Disruption, an investigation into a thwarted post 9/11 plot whose implications are massive. The foot soldiers in the foiled conspiracy were a cadre from the 850 British Muslims (out of a population of 2.7 million British Muslims) who went to Pakistan and Afghanistan spoiling for jihad. They were young men out of sorts, looking for direction and finding it in sermons and YouTube videos by militant Islamists. The author is careful to sort out the acts of a few from the ordinary lives of the majority.
The continent-hopping conspiracy, with ties to extremist groups supported by Pakistan’s spy agency, was discerned by the CIA, MI5 and MI6 but finally broken by London and Thames Valley police. Disruption delves into the sentencing of terrorists and their lives after release from prison. While the media focuses on repeat offenders, Peritz finds that most are eager to put the past behind.
Disruption is an engrossing page-turner. Peritz, the national security commentator for CNN and other outlets, submitted his book for clearance to the CIA Review Board “due to my previous employment.” He worked with previously classified U.S. and U.K. documents but adds—tantalizingly—that one day more will be known: “But not today.”
