No Heroes : Inside the FBI's Secret Counter-Terror Force

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Summary: True account of true heroes
Review: Although Danny O. Coulson didn't want his agents to be known as heroes (for taking unnecessary risks), this book illustrates how he and every one of his agents in the HRT were definitely far beyond the status of hero. He gives in depth accounts of how he formed the HRT and many of their missions after having served as an FBI SWAT agent. An excellent read. He sought no honor, but he definitely deserves it.

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Summary: Hostage Rescue from the front lines
Review: Coulson's book offers an intriguing look at the politics and logistics of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team from his unique perspective as the unit's first leader. Politically savvy and cynical, Coulson reveals the frustratingly complicated issues that surround most rescue situations, while rewarding readers with those rare incidents when everything went right. Like many books of this nature, Coulson focuses primarily on key events rather than on his personal feelings about the results of his actions. It is an invigorating read for those who enjoy true crime written by those who lived it. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author "Race Against Evil."

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Summary: Good book, others are better
Review: I enjoyed reading this book; Coulson served our country well, and we should be greatful that someone with his intellegence and restraint ran operations such as the CSA seige or Atlanta prison riot. Coulson also did his utmost to avoid having anyone hurt. As he said, the HRT didn't fire a single round at Waco.

However, the book COLD ZERO by Whitcomb is a better operator's-eye view of the HRT. Coulson's book shows us the forest, but Whitcomb's the individual trees.

Both books are good, but Whitcomb's is better.

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Summary: An Elitist Attitude Revealed
Review: I found Danny Coulson's book an interesting read but I think his attitude about armed citizens was brought forward very clearly in two unrelated incidents. It's the same liberal view we see in the left wing gun control advocates who would like to see us all disarmed and helpless. While they, because they can afford it, have their own armed guards to watch over and protect them.

Mr. Coulson was sent to disarm and arrest an evil doer. What was the man's crime? Why he dared to arm himself to protect his home, family, friends, and nation against what he saw as a government out of control. A threatto his personal life and liberties. Had he threatened anyone? If he did it wasn't related as far as I can recollect. Were the man's fears founded? Well, apparently they were since the very government he feared sent armed men to his doorstep to disarm and arrest him! A man about whom Danny Coulson had no good thing to say. He described this man in the most unflattering and derogatory terms.

We move further down the book and Mr. Coulson finds himself feeling threatened by the very government he has served so faithfully for so many many years. What does he do? Why he arms himself with a full automatic weapon and an automatic sidearm to protect himself and his family. He carries the rifle right on the seat with him wherever he goes! Does he see this as a double standard in contrast to his earlier behaviour? Apparently not because that guy was just a stupid average joe and he, Danny Coulson, was a highly trained "elite" FBI Agent. Danny Coulson displayed the typical attitude of politicians, government agents, and even some local police departments. His actions, in each case, define Danny Coulson more than any other incidents he relates. A double standard and an elitist attitude.

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Summary: Recollections of an Amazing Career
Review: I purchased this booking seeking to better understand the tactics that the federal government are using to combat domestic terrorism. What I found was a historical account of Mr. Coulson's illustrious career in the FBI, which started with the civil unrest of the 60's with militant groups such as the black panthers, to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. No doubt his career was unparralled. His story is very real and paints a picture not only of his role, but the transition of the FBI from the old Hoover regime to modern times. My only critism of this work, was that I was looking for a cut and dry analysis of "counter-terrorism" and a quick read. This is a rather lengthly book, most of which is very interesting, but not something that can be read in one night.

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Summary: Not Your Daddy's FBI
Review: I read this book because I was looking for insights on what really happened at Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Oklahoma City Bombing. I expected a bureaucratic white wash and PR job by another Bureau hack but I was pleasantly disappointed.

The author takes the reader through his long and illustrious career as an FBI agent from the 60's to the late 90's battling Black Panthers, bank robbers, white supremacists and the other scum and villainy of American society. Following the disastrous terrorist attack at the '72 Olympics where Palestinian terrorists killed several Israeli athletes the author got the idea that the Bureau needed a trained counter terrorist team to deal with this kind of thing in the US. He goes on to found the famous (infamous) Hostage Rescue Team that would later play a very prominent role in the Ruby Ridge and Waco disasters.

The author comes across as a very sincere, honest and upstanding man of outstanding character despite a touch of arrogance and a rough macho exterior. He is quick to admit his own mistakes and, surprisingly, those of the Bureau itself. He pulls no punches against the bad guys or his own people. His dry sense of humor and his quick wit defy the stereotypes of FBI agents as stuffy, humorless bureaucrats. The author admits that these figures do indeed exist but he distances himself from this kind of agent.

Regarding the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents I found the author slipping back into the good-ol-boy mode in the way that he so easily justified the actions that went on there. He was quick to admit that things could have been done better and that mistakes were made but he stops short of saying that the Bureau was out of control and wrongly cost over eighty people their lives. Like most government officials he lays the blame for the tragedies largely at the feet of those the Bureau was after. This attitude seemed out of place following his previous candid remarks regarding the Bureau's actions.

He also somewhat arrogantly derides the right wing opinions of the Bureau's abuse of power and, in some cases, criminal acts. He admits that the Bureau had in the past committed unconstitutional acts but now they are all straight laced professionals who don't do this sort of thing. Then, ironically, he himself is subjected to this very thing when an investigation into the Ruby Ridge shootings finds him on the sharp end of allegations of criminal wrongdoing. The highest leadership of the FBI itself broke its own rules and those of the Constitution to level unspecified and unfounded charges against the author for criminal wrongdoing. He was not told what the charges were or who was bringing them. He was denied the right to refute the charges and he was ordered not to speak to the media.

The Bureau put no such gag order on the prosecution who blatantly spread the allegations to the media bringing death threats to the author and his family. The author found himself being sacrificed on the altar of political expediency after over 20 years of hard service to his country. I found it bitterly ironic that the author could be so naïve as to claim that the Bureau doesn't have an underhanded, above-the-law, win-at-any-cost attitude and yet find himself impaled by this very thing once he became politically inconvenient. I wondered if he had a moment of empathy for Randy Weaver, the Branch Davidians or the countless others who find themselves under the thumb of the federal government. If he did so he doesn't admit it openly but his experience is nonetheless harrowing.

In the end I found the book a very excellent read and it shed a lot of light on the way our federal law enforcement agents think and act. I found this book to be reasonably fair and very believable. I still think that the FedGov is wrongheaded and out of control but this book gave me some hope knowing that there are a lot of honest, stand-up kind of people in the rank and file of the most powerful law enforcement agency in the land.

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Summary: Coulson's Own Personal Storm
Review: Just after I read Cold Zero by Special Agent Whitcomb I was interested in the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. I picked up this book shortly there after. Fully expecting another excellent expose I was disappointed when I began this book. While Cold Zero takes the reader through the life of an agent in the agent's eyes, this book does not.

This book is disjointed severely. Basically instead of reliving famous cases through the life of an agent the book just tells about the cases over time. The book reads like an official report. We went there and this happened--no emotion. And because the cases took several years to solve the book is disjointed. For example the first case about the black panthers there are whole chapter which are only two pages long. So a chapter would end and then the next chapter will start up--a year later we got a break so and so was arrested. Then next chapter would start--later in July another break we found x, y, and z.

CONCLUSION: The book reads like an FBI report, cold and factual. If you are looking for expose this isn't it.

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Summary: More than the title infers
Review: There is an interesting juxtaposition apparent in this book. Coulson, a career FBI agent and one time SAC (Special Agent in Charge) of three Bureau regional offices, plays himself against an overwhelmingly bureaucratic and politically sensitive FBI. Coulson's view is at once an outsider and, at the same time, an insider in most of the major and politically sensitive episodes in the Bureau's last twenty-plus years. The author appears to hold particular disdain for the politcally astute Bureau culture that, at times, seems to only be concerned with it's decisions after they have already taken their toll (reference the railroading of the author for his role in the Ruby Ridge episode several YEARS after the events unfolded). What is interesting is that Coulson almost certainly had to play into some of that political mindset to achieve his various supervisory roles. It is without question that Coulson played by the rules. But he played his cards. His furry regarding the inquisition against him is understandable; to this much he admits. The Bureau's headhunt infected his faith in the FBI and, more importantly, the Justice Department hierarchy. It brought with it a disappointing and trying end to an otherwise stellar and unblemished career. And, perhaps most disturbing it made he and his family the unfortunate target of baseless death threats.

No Heroes is not without some minor stylistic flaws but it excels at what it is intended to do: to highlight the everyday heroes of the FBI who selflessly pursue the most base of society's detritus while managing against many odds to maintain honor and follow the FBI's respect worthy code: Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity.

Coulson's book reserves disdain for the most heinous in our society and the occasional career bureaucrat. And while it entertains certain whims of it's author, there is no reason to believe that Coulson is less than a hero to the men and women he served with. He is worthy of respect and this book deserves more than a passing glance.

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Summary: Very interesting book
Review: There is simply no substitute for an insider's account of how things really work at the FBI. This is where you'll find info that the FBI does not print in its brochures or on the web. The author has a unique perspective on the operations of the FBI's elite counter-terrorism force, and I could not put this book down.

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Summary: OldSiFiDog
Review: This book gives you an inside look at the FBI during a period of some controversy (1960's to present) with its history, which covers everything from the Black Liberation Army to the Oklahoma City bombing. I have found it is difficult living through this history and getting all the facts from the media. Also covered are the ATF and U.S. Marshals which Danny O. Coulson encounters.

One of the main topics of this book is the FBI's Counter Terrorist organization, Hostage Rescue Team, and its reasons for coming into existence. Also, the reason for an FBI team as opposed to the very competent Delta Force and Navy Seal Teams.

The book opens with the Oklahoma City bombing, then flashes back to why he became an FBI agent, and follows his career from there. It was interesting to learn that Eldridge Cleaver's deadly Black Liberation Army terrorists were a split off from the Black Panthers, which were based in the San Francisco bay area.

He gives some of his experiences in dealing with the drug traffic, bank robbers and other low-life encounters, but the main thrust of this book is terrorism and its many forms.

From other sources I have some familiarity with the Christian Identity cults (a cult is any group or organization which uses brainwashing techniques to capture and control its members). I had thought they were mostly confined to the state of Idaho, but apparently they are everywhere, and many of these organizations have split off terrorist factions. This book confirms this, but also indicates that it may be worse, in that individuals like McVeigh become their own terrorist organizations.

The author, Elaine Shannon, tells these stories in a very easy manner (except at the beginning which seems to jump around a bit) with insight and humor. I enjoyed Danny O. Coulson's sense of humor and his relationships with other people. I especially found hope in his and the FBI's straightforward willingness to talk to anybody at any time to defuse potential disasters. Also included with this work is a complete index in the back so it can be used for reference.

I discovered that the ATF is greatly concerned with proliferation of fully automatic and large bore weapons among the cults and other groups. While I applaud this endeavor, I hope they learn a little restraint so that these courageous agents may live longer.

Other books I have found of interest in this vein: 1) The Politics of Righteousness : Idaho Christian Patriotism, by James Alfred Aho 2) Snapping : America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman

In summary, I found this book to be a fast, entertaining, and frightening read. I believe that it deserves to be read so that everyone will be aware of the dangers we face.