The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State

An explosive look at the domestic agencies charged with spying on all of us.

Given recent terrorist events in the U.S., this timely book draws on access to political and operational insiders to create a brilliant exposé of why and how the American government spies on citizens. Born in the wake of the 1983 massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut, the plan by Ronald Reagan's national security advisor, John Poindexter, to coordinate intelligence on terrorists has claimed billions of government dollars. Despite the cost, it has failed in its mission to identify new threats. But as Harris shows, it has provided the government with a tool for spying on Americans that has ushered in an age of constitutionally questionable intrusion into the lives of every citizen.