The Terror Factory: Tenth Anniversary Edition

Book excerpt: A groundbreaking work of investigative journalism, The Terror Factory was the first book to expose how the FBI, under the guise of engaging in counterterrorism, built a network of more than 15,000 informants after 9/11 whose primary purpose was to infiltrate Muslim communities to create and facilitate phony terrorist plots so that the Bureau could then claim it was winning the war on terror. This tenth anniversary edition of The Terror Factory will focus on the activities of the FBI over the past decade, including how the Justice Department has prosecuted hundreds of defendants on international terrorism charges that emerged from FBI stings. In many of these stings, the informants or undercover agents provided all the money and weapons for the terrorist plots, and sometimes even the ideas -- raising significant questions about whether any of these people would have committed the crimes were it not for the FBI's encouragement. The book will also examine how the FBI is assigning informants to infiltrate right-wing groups, and how the calls for new right-wing anti-terrorism laws would give the Bureau even more power.