Operation Dark Heart Reviews…

“This is one terrific book, done with fascinating detail that allows the reader to experience the hard sharp edge of what it is like to be a 21st century intelligence operative searching the by-ways and back alleys of the harshest environs and most troublesome terrorist havens on the face of the earth…Tony Shaffer is among the best “counterterrorism soldiers” and “intelligence operatives” this country has put in the field. He has keen insight and expertise that policy makers should appreciate and leverage regarding Afghanistan. He has the ability to express his views in the drawing rooms of Washington and among the public-focused media centers of the world. These valuable traits mark him as worth interacting with and by extension mark this book as worth the time of any reader – no matter what their political or operational persuasion.”

” A fascinating look into the highly complex world of modern combat, clandestine intelligence and bureaucrats run amok . Tony Shaffer walks and runs us through a critical time in the history in the war in Afghanistan. You live the battles, both personal and professional, through his eyes and he leaves it to us, the reader, to arrive at our own conclusions. And what makes this all the more compelling is that while this is an action adventure, it is a real account- not a work of fiction or fantasy. His observations and policy recommendations are likely the only hope we have for achieving, and sustaining a victory in Afghanistan. From the opening to the closing, you are on the edge of your seat…Tony is, in all aspects, the real Jack Bauer – but with an intellect.”

“Anthony Shaffer has written a gripping account, filled with amazing detail, of an otherwise secret world. Shaffer has the instincts of a thriller writer and the knowledge and perspective of the professional insider. Operation Dark Heart is a fascinating page-turner.

“A nonfiction book that frequently reads like an adventure novel, this account of the author’s intelligence operations in post-9/11 Afghanistan should definitely strike a chord with readers. Shaffer was an intelligence operative from an early age, joining army counterintelligence in the early 1980s at the age of 19. By 1991, he was running HUMINT, the army’s clandestine human-intelligence program. Prior to 2001, he was working on an operation called Able Danger, which, according Shaffer, uncovered some of the 9/11 terrorists a full year before the attacks, although—again, according to Shaffer—the government blocked attempts to act upon the information. He saw the same sort of thing happen again in Afghanistan, when red tape and inept policies hindered efforts to fight the Taliban. This is almost two books in one: a rousing chronicle of the author’s experiences on foreign soil and an examination of a bloated bureaucracy that is in desperate need of retooling. Shaffer adopts a mostly objective tone, although there are moments when his personal views sneak through (the phrase “Bush administration lunacy,” for example). Although no coauthor is listed, the book reads like it was transcribed from taped interviews (see the occasional oddly constructed paragraph where it looks like someone stuck in parenthetical explanations of things the author was saying). All in all, a fascinating, eye-opening book.”