A "breathtaking investigative account" (Los Angeles Times) of the extreme national security apparatus built in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Top Secret America is a tour de force of investigative journalism that reveals government run amok and a war on terrorism gone wrong. After 9/11, the United States government embarked on an unprecedented effort to protect America. The result has been calamitous: Eleven years of unparalleled spending and growth have produced a system to keep America safe that may in fact be putting us in even greater danger--but we don't know because it's all top secret. In this acclaimed bestseller, award-winning journalists Dana Priest and William M. Arkin lift the curtain on this clandestine universe. From the agencies and private companies keeping track of American citizens, to the military commanders building America's first "top secret city," to a hidden army within the U.S. military more secret than the CIA, this new national security octopus has become a self-sustaining "fourth branch" of government.