Top Secret America

A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist reveals the inner workings of the U. S. government's numerous national security agencies in this national bestseller.

The top-secret world that the government created in response to the 9/eleven terrorist attacks has become so enormous, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or exactly how many agencies duplicate work being done elsewhere. The result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe may be putting us in greater danger.

In Top Secret America, award-winning reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin uncover the enormous size, shape, mission, and consequences of this invisible universe of over one,300 government facilities in every state in America; nearly two,zero outside companies used as contractors; and more than 850,zero people granted “Top Secret” security clearance.

A landmark exposé of a new, secret “Fourth Branch” of American government, Top Secret America is a tour de force of investigative reporting—and a book sure to spark national and international alarm.

“A concise, informative account. . . . This centuries-old conflict between the public's right to know and the government's efforts to keep secrets is at the heart of the book. . . . Priest and Arkin use several vivid anecdotes to illustrate the contours of Top Secret America, and to show us how we've all, in one way or another, been consumed by it.” —Shane Harris, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State