After 20 years of CIA covert operations, Kolb looked forward to
\t\t retirement and the obligatory memoir (Overworld, 2004), when he discovered the wildly
\t\t sinister plot recounted in this engaging book. As a favor to the Department of
\t\t Homeland Security, he consulted colleagues, his files and the Internet for
\t\t information on Robert Sensi and Richard Hirschfeld, once vaguely CIA-connected
\t\t but now wanted by the FBI for numerous financial scams. The avalanche of data
\t\t he unearthed makes the inability of the FBI, CIA and DHS to gather information
\t\t very disturbing. Specifically, Kolb discovered the pair had placed the
\t\t treasurer of Sen. John Kerry's campaign committee on the board of a company
\t\t that (perhaps inadvertently) sold supplies to al-Qaeda—a revelation that
\t\t would have devastated Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. Kolb also recounts
\t\t details of his subjects' long career of fraud and extortion, often with
\t\t cooperation from prominent Washington figures. Stories of powerful men behaving
\t\t badly have irresistible appeal, and Kolb relates them in prose far more lively
\t\t than the average bureaucrat's, while backing his story with footnotes, Internet
\t\t addresses and quotes from named sources. (Feb.
\t\t 1)
