September 18, 2019

Josh Campbell

Harvard Book Store welcomes CNN law enforcement analyst JOSH CAMPBELL—former special assistant to FBI Director James Comey—for a discussion of his new book, Crossfire Hurricane: Inside Donald Trump's War on the FBI. He will be joined in conversation by homeland security expert and analyst JULIETTE KAYYEM.

Details

It is January 6, 2017, two weeks before the inauguration. Only a handful of people know about the Steele dossier, and the nation is bitterly divided by the election results. As rumors begin to circulate that something might be brewing with the newly elected president and Russia, FBI special agent Josh Campbell joins the heads of the US intelligence community on a briefing visit to Trump Tower in New York City. He does not yet know that this meeting will eventually lead to the firing of his boss, James Comey, or that within weeks his former boss Robert Mueller will be appointed to investigate collusion and obstruction of justice at the highest level. He does not yet know that the FBI will come under years of sustained attacks from the commander in chief of the very nation its agents have sworn to protect. But, from his unique position within the FBI, he will watch it occur.

In this gripping fly-on-the-wall narrative, Campbell takes readers behind the scenes of the earliest days of the Russia investigation—codename: Crossfire Hurricane—up to the present. Using both firsthand experience and reporting, he reveals fresh details about this tumultuous period; explains how the FBI goes about its work and its historic independence from partisan forces; and describes the increasing dismay inside the bureau as the president and his allies escalate their attacks on the agency. Appalled by Trump’s assault on the bureau’s credibility, Campbell left the FBI in 2018 to sound the alarm about unfair political attacks on the institutions that keep America safe.

Smart, clear, passionate, Crossfire Hurricane will captivate readers struggling to make sense of a news cycle careening out of control.

About Author(s)

Josh Campbell is a CNN analyst, providing insight on crime, justice, and national security issues. Prior to joining the network, Campbell was a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI and served as Special Assistant to FBI Director James Comey. During his twelve-year career, he conducted numerous high-profile terrorism and kidnapping investigations, served overseas in multiple diplomatic and operational assignments, and managed the bureau's interagency communication response strategy following crisis incidents. He received four FBI Combat Theater Awards for his work embedded with military special operations and CIA teams abroad. Campbell has a Master of Arts in Communication from Johns Hopkins, a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, and completed the Arabic language immersion training program at Middlebury College. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations.

In government, academia, journalism, and the private sector, Juliette Kayyem has served as a national leader in America’s homeland security efforts. Juliette presently serves as CEO of Zemcar, a company focused on connecting busy parents with qualified drivers to solve family transportation needs. Most recently, she was President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. She is also the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at the Harvard Kennedy School, a national security analyst and contributor for CNN, and a weekly featured analyst on Boston Public Radio.