and policies to guarantee the safety and security of the american people. i sort of see this okay, here's the problem, this is what we're going to do about it, and then we did it. the notion that, of change mainly came to the focus in my own mind as i say, i thought before about this problem of 9/11 style attack, terrorist attack with deadly weapons, something other than box cutters and airline tickets. but the events of 9/11 really brought that home. and i think it, it heightened my concern, would be a fair way to put it, about the potentially devastating consequences. we had anthrax attacks at the same time. turned out those were probably domestically initiated. and we had, one that i've ever been added there up in new york a month after 9/11, and as we landed that day to go down to the waldorf where i was a guest speaker for the evening, received word that there had been a botched attack at the white house. one detector had gone off suggesting the president and i and others have been attacked with botulism. we did know what it was false or not. it turned out to be a false reading, fortunately. so, you know, there was a level of heightened concern in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 that we had to do with. like on 9/11 you get a report that there are six planes hijacked, turns out there were only four. that was enough. report that there was a car bomb at the state department. turned out there was no car bomb at the state department. turned out there was a report of a plane that had gone down on the ohio-west virginia border. know, that was america's 77 that simply dropped off the radar and hit the pentagon. news report of a plane down in pennsylvania, shanksville, turned out that was true. united 93. as we went through that process and the immediate aftermath as were putting together policies and so forth, there's no question but that there was significantly -- i don't know how i could've done my job if i had to. and i felt that part of my job was as the president's, was to make certain that we never again got it the way we did on 9/11. >> well, with that i would like to thank mr. vice president, think the american enterprise institute for hosting. [applause] i think all of you for coming. thank you. thanks so much. thanks so much, stephen, vice president cheney. aei is extraordinarily grateful to a friend like you, scholar, states and and men of action which represents abi's ambition so well. we are so thankful for your kind -- kind of this when. thanks to all of the questions. we will let you get out of here. i think you have some meaty interviews right after this, and then we will excuse the crowd. thanks again. >> next on book tv, a history of man has launched by the american military and intelligence agencies. >> you're watching the tv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction books every weekend. also available on the web at booktv.org. this book is being released today, called "the rogue: searching for the real sarah palin." author joe mcginniss now joins us to talk about his newly released book from new york. mr. mcginniss, how is it that you ended up living next to sarah palin when you're researching your book? >> i got very, very lucky, peter. i was in alaska in may 2010, and actually looking for a place to live because i knew i was going to be out there for a few months. and i wanted to live in wasilla because at that point in my research, i'm about 80% of the people that i still need to talk to work in or near wasilla. but i couldn't find anything out there, so an hour and 20 minutes away in anchorage, much bigger city, i found an apartment and a little mother-in-law apartment rented by school teacher and i was going to go over there at 6:00 that night to sign a four month lease for that apartment. and at 3:00 that afternoon, my cell phone rang and it was a woman named catherine taylor calling, and she said i've been trying to reach you for months because i heard you're coming back this summer and heard you're looking for a place to live. and i have a house in wasilla it would be available for you to rent. and i said where in glasgow is a dislocated? and she said welcome it's right next door to todd and sarah palin. and i said well, this is my lucky day. and i drove up to the next day, took a look at the house, and moved in the following we can. >> what was the reaction of the palin? >> they weren't happy at all. i didn't think they would be happy because they knew i was writing a book about sarah, an ira published an article in portfolio magazine about her failed attempt to build an alaska gas pipeline. and that peace her considerably. but i expected they would at least be mature about it. the third day i was there i was out of my porch in the early evening, and todd came walking around the fence, there was a fence that separated two properties, and he walked up to me and said, what are you doing here? who are you? what are you doing here? oddly enough, todd and sarah had rented the very same house. they been renting this house through the previous fall and then they decide they didn't want to pay the $3000 a month anymore so they canceled their rental and left mrs. ted is looking for a new tenant. and indicated she found was me. i've explained this to todd, and he said well, i don't like this because you are writing a book about my wife and now i'm worried about our privacy. are you going to be, having long lens cameras looking over the fence taking pictures and sticking microphones there to hear what we're saying? and i said no. i said listen, todd, i'm not the "national enquirer." in fact, as long as i'm here your privacy is guaranteed because i'll do nothing to violate it. consider me sort of a buffer zone. so nobody else can approach or property either because they've got to get through mine first. but he wasn't, he wasn't convinced by the. he felt that this was, just my very presence there was something that was a front. a couple of hours later i was actually standing on my porch at the end of it that faces away from the palis property, looking at some vacant wooded lot on the opposite side, talking on a cell phone to my wife back in massachusetts. and they sent track, there's sun is out of the army, in the backyard to take a cell phone picture of me. and that night sarah posted that picture on her facebook page, and she said we have a new neighbor, joe mcginniss, and here he is shooting over the fence in our property. he could see into my nine year old daughters a bedroom, and who knows what he is up to? we feel that we are being stalked. i forget her exact words, but it was a hysterical outburst. the very next day she called glenn beck and got on his radio show, and they were saying this is terrible, i fear for the safety of my children. all kinds of crazy, hysterical, overreaction to a simple fact that my moving in their next-door. if she and todd had handled this differently, nobody would even have known that i was living next to her because it wasn't something that i had any reason to publicize. that was just my location. we didn't have to be friends but we could have gotten along in a civilized manner. that's what i was hoping for. >> was that you only face-to-face meeting with the palis family? >> that was the only time i talk to any member of the family. that's right. >> and right after that a new fence went up, greg? >> yes. it was a 10-foot high fence. the palins built on the property next to this house, and they built right up next to the property line and they put up this 10-foot fence right in mrs. taylor's face but it was kind of an aggressive gesture on their part but that things had always been near. for next-day todd brought in a a crew of carpenters. they added the height of the fence to make a 16 feet high so there was a 10-foot fence and then nailed up right on top of was a 16-foot high fence. that's the fence actually that, when sarah did that reality tv show on the discovery channel last year, the very first episode she started off by talking about the living next door. there was footage taken of me sitting on my deck and reading a book and minding my own business. and sarah said that they never come easy looking at is? on my gosh, i can't even sit out here and work on my papers because he might be looking at me. and she said, you know what, i want you to drill a hole in that dance so i can spy on him. and see what he's up to. that was the approach they took. they were very, very aggressive about it. todd said to me that first night, he said how long are you going to be here? i said, i think probably three, four months. and he said yeah, well we will just see how long you stay here. and those were the last words i heard from any member of the palin famine. >> did you ever fear for your safety in your months in alaska? >> well, i did actually. i did because the palins have an ability to incite strong emotions in people. a lot of the people inside emotions in the own guns, to put it bluntly. and i had the mayor of wasilla offer me a government on protection. and i declined the offer, but they did put police patrols on to watch my house, keep it under surveillance and also he alaska state police were parked just down the road checking on anybody who was approaching my house. but a couple of days after this, our right wing radio talk show host named mark levin broadcast my e-mail address on his show, and urged his listeners to write to me and express their opinion of what kind of person i was for daring to move next door to sarah palin. and i began to get some of the most ugliest, most hate filled threats of violence i had ever seen transmit it to anyone. not only i was threatened, but my wife was threatened back in massachusetts. someone said we should go visit nancy because she must be lonely with jill away. lifestyle bought and paid a little call on her. and i have someone else write and say you're playing to bring your grandchildren out to visit you this summer? well, they better just by a one-way ticket because because if they come out, you are not going back. you will find there bodies floating in lake wasilla. >> described wasilla as you saw at. >> wasilla is a town that has come out of nowhere almost overnight. i was in alaska in the late, mid-to-late 1970s to work on my book, going to extremes. and i can remember driving from anchorage to fairbanks, which is about an eight hour trip and just over an hour up the road there was a blinking light, yellow blinking and read on either side. telling you to slow down, and there was a gas station and there was a general store. and the post office, and that was wasilla. must have had about 500 people living there, at most. not even a full-fledged traffic light. over the past 20 years it's become the fastest growing city in alaska. a lot of the people who moved to work on the pipeline wound up selling and wasilla. landed there was cheaper than in anchorage itself, but yet it was close enough to angry chick so that they could fly out of anchorage airport up to the north slope and back. it became a boomtown during the pipeline years. and then began to become a commercial center. sarah palin encourage when she was mayor, she encourage the develop of these big box stores, wal-mart and lowe's, so wasilla now, every major franchise, restaurant or department store, target, you know, all of these things. they all have branches in wasilla. wassail is now the most congested hodgepodge surrounded by still the most serene and glorious landscapes that stretch on for hundreds of miles. but wasilla itself is this congested little clogged, clogging the are you right there and our have from anchorage. >> what do you mean when you describe alaska, wasilla, as patently and? >> well, palin was born in idaho but she arrived in wasilla very early in life. that's where she grew up. she went to wasilla high school. her father was a teacher for many years in the wasilla elementary school. and her mother was a secretary in the assembly of god church. the palins became one of the first families of wasilla, so to speak. and when sarah got into politics, she began by running for city council of wasilla and was elected to that. then after two terms on the wasilla city council she stepped up to run for mayor, served two terms as mayor. all the while expanding her political influence your then ran for lieutenant governor, lost but then came back to run for governor and won. and then, of course, john mccain nominated her or vice president. and she personifies the values that were particular to wasilla as opposed to the rest of alaska. and by that i mean especially an extreme form of evangelical christianity. people not come to call it communism because the militant fringe on evangelical rights that wants to end the separation of church and state in america, that's the sarah palin advocates. that's what she would try to bring about if she ever have the power to do it. she's representing that extreme christian right, trying to impose their values on the rest of secular society. there must be 75 tiny little storefront evangelical churches in wasilla. early in "the rogue" i actually list all the churches of wasilla, and it goes on and on and on, about a page and have just the name of always different churches. and that's the essence of wasilla society. tiny little storefront bible believing, bible thumping churches, evangelical christians who believe that evolution is a myth. it should not be taught in public schools, who believe that many, including sarah, believe that jesus, jesus christ will actually return to earth during her lifetime on it. and herb kohl -- our goal has always been to repair alaska and america to be sort of a christian republic that jesus finds himself at home in. >> it became a city of character. what does that mean? >> well, sarah as mayor went to an evangelical conference in indianapolis, paid for by the city by the way, by the taxpayers. already have a whole blending of church and state there. and this was a conference sponsored by the cities of character organization. cities of character our cities that ballot to follow 49 biblical principles -- that vow to follow difficult principles and develop a way of life in the city that is in accordance with these 49 specific biblical principles. such as obedience. you must obey higher authority. they have a little list of flashcards that you look at, and learn all these applications, biblical truth. sera returned from this conference and proposed to the wasilla city council that wasilla becomes a quote, city of character. and the city council authorized this and wasilla became the only city of character in the state of alaska. mostly based in states with strong evangelical traditions, south carolina and texas i believe have the most common to most cities of character at any of the states in the union. for example, none of the new england states, none of the new england states are there any cities of character. it denotes a commitment the following biblical teachings in government. in other words, having to city government influenced by the fundamentalists belief in biblical truth as literal truth. >> why do you describe sarah palin's terms as mayor as a reign of terror? >> because she began to fire people as soon as she took office. she fired the police chief. she drove the town library and to resign. she fired the public works director. she fired, she fired or forced the resignations of anyone who have supported her opponent in the mayoral election. and she replaced them all with high school friends or members offer a simply of god evangelical church. she tried to pack the city council with right wing supporters. she became this autocratic leader overnight. i have talked to many, many people during my research who lost their jobs and sarah palin was mayor. summit to move move out of wasilla. some had to move out of alaska because they displeased her and she brought an end to their terms of public service and in many cases would need to stop there but try to prevent them from finding other jobs. this is where the to begin. people began to peer sarah palin. if you get on the wrong side of sarah, she's going to hurt you. she and todd, they will come at you. they will find a way to get back. people begin to live in fear. wasilla had never seen anything like this before, and it was actually, within months of her election, there was a meeting held in the city to discuss a recall petition to recall her. people realized what a mistake they have made. however, she did moderate to a degree and was elected easily, reelection to a second term. but the way she tried to impose her will and her personality on every aspect of city life leads people looking back at it and saying, phrases were used by half a dozen people who said, when sarah was mayor that was a reign of terror, because you got on the wrong side of her and you were in trouble. you know, not exactly a happy place. >> joe mcginniss is the author of the federal books -- of several books. is news is released today called "the rogue: searching for the real sarah palin." mr. mcginniss, did you witness any of that fear firsthand when you are living up there last summer? >> i sure did. i sure did. i witnessed it when i would call people for interviews, and people would say, well, i'll talk to you but you've got to promise me you won't put my name in your book, because if you do, god knows what will happen to me. this was exaggerated after sarah had her hysterical reaction to my moving next-door. people saw what she did to me for just having the nerve to move next door to her, without bothering her anyway. and if she would get that crazy about you just living next-door, imagine what she would do if she read your book two years from now and saw that i said something critical of for. we wouldn't be safe. our children might not get into college. we could lose a scholarship. we could lose job. she has a lot of ways of getting back. she has a lot of power in the state even though she is not governor anymore. people were fearful. i remember one incident where i had some effect of smoke alarms in the house i was renting, and they had to be replaced. the handyman who's going to come and replace the smoke alarms called me and said well, i'm right down at the end of your street, and i said, done. he said i will but i've got to get my car ready first. and 15 minutes later he pulls up. i had a chain across my driveway to keep out unwanted visitors. and i was down there to unlock the chain and let him in. and i notice that both his front and we're license plates had cardboard taped over them so nobody could see the numbers. and he said that's what i meant about getting my car ready. he said i can't take a chance somebody could be in the palin house next door and looked up and upstairs and they said my license plate number and they know that i came here to do some repair work -- repair work. that could put me out of business. that's the kind of fear i encountered everyday. >> with irrational fears? >> i think they were because sarah's history of vindictiveness, of maintaining the minister click of the story of a trooper gate, which is win, that's the story of her illegal attempts to use the power of her office to force the firing of a state policeman in alaska whose only offense was the fact that he got divorced from sarah's sister. it was a bitter divorce, and the palins set out to destroy this man. and they stopped almost at nothing. and, in fact, they didn't fire the highly acclaimed director of public safety for alaska, while monaghan. when he refused a direct order to deliver the trooper said to them on the planet. they wanted to trooper fired. sarah started before she was governor and she continued as governor. that's what got her first in trouble back in 2008, and that's why it's at the gate at the end of it because she lied about this. she said she'd ne