"Theoharis has a long history of criticizing government security programs. No scholar has greater authority or a corpus of scholarship that is more highly respected. Abuse of Power is excellent, and it will immediately command attention-even from those who are only peripherally interested in the subject of surveillance and secrecy. What is distinctive and original about this book is that Theoharis so superbly historicizes the 9/11 response. His argument, essentially, is that the policies from the Roosevelt years were not only illegal but also ineffective in terms of preserving security. Thus, it is not surprising that they did not prevent 9/11." -Richard Immerman, author of Empire for Liberty: A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz