Books The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House  by Nada Bakos (Author), Davin Coburn

The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House is a memoir by Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst and targeting officer in the Counterterrorism Center. The book chronicles her career from 2000 to 2007, focusing on her work tracking Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Bakos provides unique insights into the developing role of targeting officers at the CIA, blending her personal journey with the larger evolution of the agency’s counterterrorism efforts.

Key themes include her analytical work debunking supposed links between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda prior to the Iraq invasion, frustrations with policymaker demands, and the transition into targeting where she applied data to operational decisions. She also details her involvement in drafting intelligence for Colin Powell’s 2003 U.N. speech. The memoir reveals the intense, traumatic nature of counterterrorism work and highlights the pioneering role of CIA targeting officers in hunting key terrorist figures during a critical period of U.S. foreign policy.​