Counterterrorism czar Richard “Clarke sent an agonized note that morning [September 4, 2001] to Condoleezza Rice, begging the national security adviser to envision hundreds of Americans lying dead from the next attack. He said the agency [CIA] had become ‘a hollow shell of words without deeds,’ relying on foreign governments to stop bin Laden, leaving the United States ‘waiting for the big attack.’ He implored her to move the CIA to action that day.”
– Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Page 555