"David, stand up please," Hayden said to David Shedd, the DNI's deputy director for policy. Shedd rose. Hayden gently slapped his face, then shook the deputy DNI.

It was as rough as what might happen in "Little League football," Hayden said. The key to a successful interrogation was to make it intimate, not violent. By subjecting suspected terrorists to these methods, he said, it took less than a week to break them. This entailed getting them to a point where they feel that Allah can release them, that they've endured enough and can now tell their story. Hayden said that the revised interrogation program was essential to fighting terrorism.

McConnell thought Hayden's presentation conveyed the impression that this was all the CIA had ever done.

"Okay," Obama said, "what used to be on the list?"

There had been 13, Hayden said, including waterboarding one terrorist 183 times (see chapter notes for full details).

Several of the techniques described were new to Obama. He seemed transfixed. McConnell detected a trace of disbelief in the president-elect's stoic face.

Hayden, too, looked hard at Obama. He was accustomed to Bush, who in a briefing would spontaneously let you know how you were doing and react, often emotionally. Obama offered no clear reaction other than an acknowledgment that the transmission had been received.

"I'm going to have Greg come talk to you about this," Obama said, referring to designated White House counsel Greg Craig.

Obama then thanked McConnell, Hayden and the others for coming to Chicago. Now, he noted, he had to go back to the pressing issues of the transition, which suddenly included the arrest of the Illinois governor.

As best Hayden could tell, he had made the sale on the whole package of covert actions. He believed that the reduced interrogation program would win broad support inside the new White House. And he believed that the very existence of the interrogation program was more important than its content. Terrorists would know they faced a more severe interrogation if picked up by the CIA than by the military, which used the Army Field Manual Army Field Manual.

On the way out, the CIA director told McConnell that he thought he had surprised Obama and his team by showing that the interrogation tactics were strictly limited. The bad stuff was gone. He had aced the exam.

Not so fast, McConnell thought. Hayden had gotten cocky, a little flippant. He had misread the audience.

Hayden spoke confidently about making a sale.

"We'll see. I hope so, Mike," McConnell said.

Later as president, Obama abolished the CIA's enhanced interrogation program-even in its reduced form. The agency would have to follow what was in the Army Field Manual Army Field Manual.

When I asked the president about this covert action briefing, he said, "I'm not going to comment on my reaction to our deep secrets." about this covert action briefing, he said, "I'm not going to comment on my reaction to our deep secrets."

In discussions with Jones, McDonough and Lippert, DNI McConnell urged that the Obama administration come up with some intelligence professionals for the top jobs. "If you're not going with Hayden and me, at least pick a professional-an apolitical professional, someone who grew up in that world," he said. Hayden and he had 74 years of combined experience, and experience mattered. It was too easy to get misled or sidetracked if you didn't know about the hardware, personnel, special language, rituals, protocols and the traditions-good and bad-of the secretive and turf-conscious intelligence agencies.

Put people in charge who have lived in that world. It's different than anything else. You can't learn it overnight. It would make no sense and might have a tragic outcome to use the top intelligence posts for political appointees.

The Obama team responded politely, but indicated that the president-elect had a different agenda. They had to get people confirmed, and a large part of the Obama win had turned on the country's attitude toward President Bush. In their eyes, they made it clear, Bush had tarnished the image of the nation, especially with the enhanced interrogation techniques and expansive electronic eavesdropping.

At minimum, McConnell said the law on intelligence had to be rewritten so someone was clearly in charge. The 2004 reform law The 2004 reform law didn't make the DNI the boss of the CIA director, who still had authority on covert actions and reported to the president on them. They needed a Department of Intelligence just as they had a Department of Defense and the Department of State. He and Hayden had worked it out. But it was an uneasy alliance among old hands, and with the wrong people it could spin out of control. didn't make the DNI the boss of the CIA director, who still had authority on covert actions and reported to the president on them. They needed a Department of Intelligence just as they had a Department of Defense and the Department of State. He and Hayden had worked it out. But it was an uneasy alliance among old hands, and with the wrong people it could spin out of control.

If you don't fix it, he warned, you will pay an enormous price.

But neither McConnell nor Hayden was given the opportunity to talk to Obama about the basic dysfunction of the intelligence organization. As the transition of government proceeded, neither requested a chance to explain to the president-elect how intelligence was not working.

Obama had told Podesta the kind of person he wanted in his administration. "I don't want just the same old crowd in Washington who do the same old things the same old way," he said. Change would be the dominant factor.

The selection of Clinton, Gates and to some extent Jones contradicted this approach. No one better represented the same old crowd than Republican Gates and Clinton, the wife of the former two-term president. Filling the two top intelligence posts would give Obama a chance to repot the plant, find people of broad experience and proven capability, and thrust them squarely in the middle of the espionage game. This was an opportunity to emphasize the "change" theme as the president-elect rounded out his national security team.

Rahm Emanuel had an idea for CIA director. In his view, one of the strongest men in the Democratic Party was Leon Panetta, a former California congressman and Clinton White House chief of staff. Their friendship went back to the mid-1980s, when Panetta was in the House and Emanuel was political director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Podesta had previously thought Panetta could be Gates's deputy at the Pentagon. Because Gates was a Republican, the White House would need someone with Democratic credentials. "A guy on our team," as Podesta put it. But after Obama had selected Bill Lynn, an executive at defense contractor Raytheon, as deputy secretary of defense, Emanuel felt there was still room for the 70-year-old Panetta. If he could do Pentagon deputy, why couldn't he do CIA?

Podesta called Panetta. "Your name's come up for CIA director."

"You're kidding me," Panetta replied. The idea floored him. Panetta had said he was ready to serve in the new administration if something came up, not that he expected it would. But the CIA? Was this a genuine offer?

It's serious, Podesta said. Will you come back out to talk? The reasoning: Panetta knew the intelligence programs from his time as chief of staff and had considerable exposure to national security issues, having served on the Iraq Study Group, which examined the war in 2006. Panetta was not a political or bureaucratic naif. And Obama needed someone with unquestioned integrity who could pick up, reorient, reenergize and redefine the CIA.

Obama phoned Panetta, who was in Minneapolis visiting his son.

"Leon," he said, "I really want you to take the job of CIA director."

"I'm honored that you would ask me," Panetta replied. "You should know that my record in office is to be very truthful and to not pull any punches."

"That's exactly why I want you in that job."

By that time, the Obama team had publicly floated a replacement for McConnell as DNI, though it had yet to be made official. Dennis Blair-a Rhodes Scholar and retired four-star admiral-had an impressive resume and none of the associations with the Bush administration that McConnell had.

Blair was astonished to be under consideration. "Before the election "Before the election of last November, I had a grand total of one conversation with then Senator Obama," he said in a later speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It was an hour-and-a-half meeting when Blair had been head of the U.S. Pacific Command. "But I was, at any rate, quite surprised to receive a phone call the day of the election asking me to join his team." of last November, I had a grand total of one conversation with then Senator Obama," he said in a later speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It was an hour-and-a-half meeting when Blair had been head of the U.S. Pacific Command. "But I was, at any rate, quite surprised to receive a phone call the day of the election asking me to join his team."

Podesta had known Blair from work both had done for the CIA during 1995, when Podesta consulted for the CIA director and Blair was the agency's associate director for military support.

On Monday, January 5, 2009, Hayden read an online Washington Post Washington Post story confirming the rumors he had heard the day before about Panetta succeeding him as CIA director. "Rahm Emanuel's goombah," he said in disgust. Being replaced by a politico was a personal humiliation, as was learning about it from a newspaper. story confirming the rumors he had heard the day before about Panetta succeeding him as CIA director. "Rahm Emanuel's goombah," he said in disgust. Being replaced by a politico was a personal humiliation, as was learning about it from a newspaper.

Steve Kappes, Hayden's deputy at the CIA, called the transition office to say, "Is anybody ever going to talk to Mike Hayden?"

That next evening, Obama phoned Hayden. "General, this will make it easier for us to focus on the way ahead ... to look forward, not backward," he said. "I will have pressure on me, and this will make it easier for me."

After the Panetta nomination was announced, Hayden and Panetta met at transition headquarters. Panetta can exude congeniality and breaks easily into giddy laughter. Among the political class, his ability to build personal relations might be equaled, though it probably was not exceeded. But Hayden was there to brief his successor, not to make a new friend. The CIA director pulled out a 3x5-inch card.

"Number one, Leon-don't know if you expect this-but you are the nation's combatant commander in the global war on terrorism," Hayden said. "You're going to be making some interesting decisions." The word "interesting" was a sufficiently vague substitute for "lethal." The CIA director had Predator drones to attack terrorists and a 3,000-man army inside Afghanistan. Panetta would have to help settle the rules for how the agency captured, transported and interrogated terrorists, the outcome of which might stop a terrorist attack.

Yeah, yeah, Panetta agreed.

"Number two," Hayden said. "You have the best staff in the federal government. If you give them half a chance, they-like they did for me-will not let you fail."

Panetta indicated that he revered the CIA.

"Number three, I've read some of your writings while you've been out of government," Hayden said. "Don't ever use the words 'CIA' and 'torture' in the same paragraph again." of your writings while you've been out of government," Hayden said. "Don't ever use the words 'CIA' and 'torture' in the same paragraph again."

Panetta said nothing.

"Torture is a felony, Leon," Hayden said. "Say you don't like it. Say it offends you. I don't care. But just don't say it's torture. It's a felony." The Justice Department had approved The Justice Department had approved what the CIA did in long, detailed memos, so-legally-the CIA had not tortured anyone. what the CIA did in long, detailed memos, so-legally-the CIA had not tortured anyone.

Again, Panetta did not respond.

McConnell had drafted an order that he knew could exacerbate tensions between the CIA and DNI. The order declared that the DNI, not the CIA director, would decide the senior intelligence representative in each foreign country. This power had traditionally belonged to the CIA station chief. While McConnell knew the station chief would remain the intelligence representative about 99 percent of the time, the intelligence issues in some countries were mostly military. For example, with 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, it would be logical for the top U.S. intelligence person to be the J-2, the military intelligence chief, of the Korean command. That was where the critical intelligence issues resided.

McConnell had told Hayden, "I won't break CIA. I won't push it to the point where they lose face or stature." He thought he was getting close to persuading Hayden. So in transition meetings between Bush National Security Adviser Steve Hadley and Jones, he announced he was close to issuing the directive.

"This will be a knife fight," said Steve Kappes, who was likely to stay on as Panetta's deputy.

McConnell talked to Blair, who was going to replace him as DNI, and explained his plan. "This is a fight. CIA believes they're losing manhood. ... I am prepared to sign it and walk out the door ... blame it on me."

"You leave it for me," Blair said. "I'll work it out with Leon. We can solve this." They were friends.

"Okay, it's your call. I'll take the heat or leave it for you."

"Leave it for me," Blair said confidently.

McConnell was blunt, "You have to understand the battle you're going to have with the CIA, because they see you as the enemy, as taking their birthright. And any way they can, they'll cut you off at the knees."

6

Obama asked Vice President-elect Joe Biden to go to Afghanistan and Pakistan before the inauguration. Biden, a six-term senator from Delaware, was 19 years older than Obama and as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had traveled the world. This should be a bipartisan effort, Obama said. Biden ought to bring a Republican along.

"Lindsey Graham has the best instincts in the Senate," Biden said. Obama agreed. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was 54, but his toothy grin and good ole boy charm made him look a decade younger. He was a lawyer and colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Graham could tap-dance between the red-meat right and moderates, and had acted as a kind of shadow and best friend during the presidential campaign for the volatile Senator John McCain. He also had a backchannel relationship with Obama's camp through Emanuel.

On Friday, January 9, 11 days before the inauguration, Biden and Graham landed in Islamabad. President Zardari rolled out the red carpet. Pakistanis often referred to Zardari as "Mr. 10 Percent," a nickname he earned for allegedly taking kickbacks during the premiership of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto. Zardari had a playboy reputation, yet his office contained loving photographs of Bhutto, who was assassinated by terrorists during the 2007 national parliamentary campaign. The widower had inherited a political dynasty from her family. In August 2008, Pervez Musharraf-an army general who had seized control of the government in a 1999 bloodless coup-stepped down as president. Zardari was elected as his successor.

The Pakistani leader conferred the Hilal-e-Pakistan award on Biden. The ceremony had an absurd pomp to it. The Pakistanis joked that the one requirement was that Biden wear the medallion on inaugural day and every January 20 after that. The office then cleared out so that Biden and Graham could talk with Zardari behind closed doors.

Biden told the Pakistani president about Obama's thinking, "Afghanistan is going to be his war." Obama might soon send more troops, but this would be meaningless if Pakistan and the U.S. were not working together. "We can't fix Afghanistan without Pakistan's help." American success would depend on Pakistan, and U.S. taxpayers would not support assistance to Pakistan if the Taliban and al Qaeda continued to operate from Pakistani sanctuaries to kill U.S. soldiers and plot attacks.

The ISI ties with the Taliban cast doubt in American minds, Biden said. Pakistan has got to stop providing safe haven. Your military and intelligence service have to get their act together.

Zardari talked about his wife.

"I may not be as experienced and knowledgeable, but my mission is not different from hers because it is about my children. You need to help me gain sufficient ground at home. You know this country is awash with anti-Americanism, and they're going to hate me for being an American stooge. You have to give me economic resources so that I can win over the people, that there's something in it for them."

The extremists have the money to fight and the Pakistani government lacked the funds to match them, Zardari said. Pakistan needs a stimulus package of its own. His claim about the anemic economy was accurate. An emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund in November had saved Pakistan from defaulting on its foreign debt, rescuing the nation from possible bankruptcy.

"I get that," Biden said. "I'm a politician."

"I am going to help clean up the ISI," Zardari said. "We have to get out of these games."

Biden said that the Obama administration would like a fresh start with Pakistan, one where their interests were better aligned. "If you do not show spine," he said, "then all bets are off." Biden mentioned that his own son, Beau, was in the U.S. Army serving in Iraq.

Graham thought Biden had ably walked a fine line between reassuring and pressuring. When his turn came, he said the American public was "war weary," tired of the conflict that had dragged on for more than seven years.

"Mr. President," Graham said, "the indecision that plagues your country has got to come to an end. You've got to figure out who your enemies are, who your allies are, and act accordingly. We're your allies. We're not your enemies. But there's limitations to what we can do to help because of public opinion and resources back home. For every school we try to build in Pakistan, there's somebody in South Carolina saying, 'Why aren't you building a school here? We need it just as much.' Joe and I understand the strategic importance of your country or we wouldn't be here. It was the first place we came. It wasn't an accident.

"I was Senator McCain's chief ally. The election is over. We lost the election. I am part of the loyal opposition, but I'm here with my friend, the vice president [elect], to let you know that Senator McCain and myself ... the people who were on our side, are going to follow this president in terms of giving you the help you need."

"You've got to pick," Biden said. "You can't keep playing one side against the other. We got briefed by the CIA. The CIA thought that a lot of our intelligence was compromised" by the ISI alerting the terrorist camps we were targeting for drone strikes.

Zardari responded with emotion about how he had been fighting terrorism all his life, and reminded them that his wife had been killed by terrorists.

"I appreciate the loss of your wife," Graham said.

Zardari raised the eternal problem of India, and the endless hostility between the two countries.

"You know," Biden said, "we're looking for change."

To Graham, Zardari did not inspire confidence. He would have liked to tell him exactly what was on his mind, "The whole fucking place is burning down here, pal, you know? You may not see it, but I do."

Biden was struck by the CIA analysis. Segments of the Afghan Taliban insurgency such as the Haqqani network had virtual immunity in Pakistan, and al Qaeda was free to set up and run training camps. Who was in charge?

Next on the agenda, Biden and Graham were flying to Kabul to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

A small, gentle-looking man with a salt-and-pepper beard, Karzai had been selected to lead Afghanistan after the Taliban regime fell in late 2001. A minor Pashtun tribal leader, Karzai spoke pristine English, causing American officials to often think their conversations with him could be more candid. But he had been diagnosed as a manicdepressive, according to intelligence. Karzai was on medication and had severe mood swings.

After 9/11, CIA and U.S. Special Forces teams brought him back from exile into Afghanistan under the cover of night. He rallied villages to fight the Taliban. In the middle of the battle to retake the city of Kandahar, the U.S. accidentally dropped a bomb near Karzai. A CIA officer known as Greg V. threw himself atop Karzai and saved his life. Both men survived and Karzai frequently spoke with great emotion about his rescue. teams brought him back from exile into Afghanistan under the cover of night. He rallied villages to fight the Taliban. In the middle of the battle to retake the city of Kandahar, the U.S. accidentally dropped a bomb near Karzai. A CIA officer known as Greg V. threw himself atop Karzai and saved his life. Both men survived and Karzai frequently spoke with great emotion about his rescue.

But after an Afghan constitution was in place and Karzai was elected president in 2004, his relationship with the U.S. became more volatile. He began to routinely berate the Americans for civilian casualties.

The evidence of corruption in Karzai's government and family only exacerbated the tensions with the United States.

His half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, ran Kandahar like an Afghan version of New York City's infamous Boss Tweed. Ahmed Wali had been on Ahmed Wali had been on the U.S. and CIA payroll for years, beginning before 9/11. He had belonged to the CIA's small network of paid agents and informants inside Afghanistan. In addition, the U.S. government paid him money through his half-brother, the president. the U.S. and CIA payroll for years, beginning before 9/11. He had belonged to the CIA's small network of paid agents and informants inside Afghanistan. In addition, the U.S. government paid him money through his half-brother, the president.

More importantly, he was the landlord of some CIA and military facilities in Kandahar. A measure of his influence-and corruption-was that he was getting hefty rents from U.S. taxpayers on properties in Kandahar that he arguably did not own or control. His government-sponsored tenants included the Kandahar Strike Force, a paramilitary group of Afghans the CIA used to attack suspected insurgents. There was also evidence that Ahmed Wali profited from the opium trade.

Among senior U.S. policymakers there was a constant debate: Should we be in bed with this guy? The CIA argument was standard-he gets results, provides intelligence and support for important counterterrorist operations. It was necessary to employ some thugs if the United States was going to have a role in a land of thugs. Cutting him off might break Ahmed Wali's control of the city, and Kandahar might be lost entirely. Lose Kandahar and we possibly lose the war.

But the CIA had few illusions about him. He was not in any sense a controlled agent who always responded to U.S. and CIA requests and pressure. He was his own man, playing all sides against the others-the United States, the drug dealers, the Taliban and even his brother if necessary.

On the flight to Afghanistan, Graham said, "I dread this meeting."

"Me too," said Biden. CIA reports showed a staggering level of corruption, inaction and snarled intelligence relationships that went back decades. Biden wanted to break the dependency relationship that had developed between Karzai and the Oval Office. President Bush had a videoconference with Karzai almost every two weeks. At times, Karzai sat his infant son in his lap during the head of state tete-a-tetes. When anyone in the U.S. military or the U.S. embassy in Kabul confronted Karzai, he invoked his special relationship with the president of the United States.

Biden and Graham agreed to push Karzai. The planned state dinner would not be the traditional feel-good session.

For about 30 minutes before the dinner, Biden and Karzai spoke alone.

"We have no interest in making life tougher for you," Biden told Karzai. "But you have a real stake in our success. And you have no interest in making life tougher for us.

"We need to understand whether you're able to do the hard things that need to be done to move this forward, just as we're going to have to look whether we're able to do the hard things necessary to move this forward."

That's exactly right, Karzai said.

Graham and the American entourage as well as Karzai's cabinet milled outside the door, waiting as if this was a papal conclave to see what color smoke emerged from the chimney. Karzai and Biden came out seemingly pleased by their conversation. They sat down opposite each other at a massive dinner table, with about 15 people on each side.

Karzai had staged the evening. He called out to each of his cabinet members. "Defense Minister, tell us what you're doing." Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak stood up and delivered a report. "Interior Minister, tell us what you're doing." Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar did the same. Once the performance ended, Biden turned to Karzai.