Colombo

The year at the War College was followed by some months of desultory activity. I was not assigned to a specific job but hung around the corridors, as we say. I spent a few months in a liaison job—something to do with someone’s idea about liaising with state governments—but that didn’t turn out to be lasting. Then I was nominated as a deputy director of the State Department’s Office for Combatting Terrorism, as detailed in chapter 16. This turned out to be both demanding and satisfying, although it was years before 9/11 and the rise of terrorism to