Being switched on is the key differentiator. It must become a habit, second nature, part of the very fiber of your being. (Location 27)
Sure, if I had shot the guy, I may have escaped legal prosecution because it would have been seen as self-defense. But that would have been cold comfort if a man had lost his life because I panicked and shot him. I would have had to live with that for the rest of my life. (Location 92)
The thing is, once you’ve crossed one moral line and listened to the devil on your shoulder, it becomes easier and easier to cross bigger and bigger lines. (Location 136)
Your only hope is to stop the dominoes before they start falling. You can do this by remaining switched on. (Location 141)
Dad taught us that in order to pass the tests of daily life, you must always be ready to perform, whether at work, at school, in relationships or when looking after your own security. (Location 234)
As far as he was concerned, there was no way you could stay mentally strong and prepared unless you were in good physical condition. (Location 237)
As I grew up and became a Special Agent, I came to think of being ready for life’s tests as being “switched on.” Switched on means you are operating with all your senses, staying alert, and running on all cylinders. (Location 250)
“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me” is a great approach to life. (Location 290)
I learned early in life that good character is doing the right thing when no one is watching. (Location 370)
The home where we had all experienced so much joy, love and kindness throughout the years was now a house of pain. Death instantly changed all that was good and normal into fear and uncertainty. (Location 437)
A butterfly often appears in my life seemingly out of nowhere, at the perfect time and place—just when I need to know that my father is near. (Location 620)
Many people fail to absorb data from their environment—and the ones who do receive and assess it often fail to take action. They are not switched on. (Location 744)
She taught me that the combination of yoga, meditation and proper nutrition was the foundation for a peaceful life. (Location 779)
Not only does a UCA need to be a convincing liar but they also need to have great emotional dexterity as they switch effortlessly back and forth between two different roles. They have to convincingly wear their disguise as a bad guy, making sure they look and play the part one hundred percent at every minute. And they also have to constantly think like an agent, stay alert and aware of everything they say, and keep in mind the kind of evidence they will need for court. There are always a lot of moving parts in any operation. (Location 851)
John’s shooting taught me an invaluable—and indelible!—lesson about listening to one’s gut and taking action. From then on, I would always listen to my gut. (Location 1115)
In this case, trusting my gut meant disobeying a direct order. (Location 1138)
It wasn’t my pain I was feeling but the anticipation of facing the pain of everyone else (Location 1275)
Death and birth…we all move between these two unknowns, trying to understand them both as separate when they are actually the same. (Location 1405)
The stress of traumatic events, along with the responsibilities that went along with being an agent, a dad and a husband often weighed heavily on me. Thankfully, my dedication to wellness and the joys of family life saved my sanity. Sometimes, I believe they saved my very life. (Location 1408)
As I lived for two-and-a-half years with the nuanced ESC case, I still practiced SEE—trying to eat right, get enough sleep and exercise. I jogged and lifted weights at the gym to alleviate stress. Before bed, I did sit-ups and push-ups, just as Dad had taught us to do when we were kids. (Location 1417)
Nobody likes to lose a case at trial. This is especially true of government attorneys who usually insist on taking only slam-dunk cases to trial. But even some of those cases don’t make it to trial. There are several factors behind this: • the attitude of most government attorneys is, the more positive marks on their record, the better; • many of them are looking to the next chapter of their lives, which might include a judgeship or a job that requires an especially high wins-to-losses case ratio; • there is often prosecutorial discretion in these government cases involving white-collar criminals, which means that they can decline to prosecute if they so choose; • government attorneys might be intimidated by Ivy League attorneys representing the target company. Plenty of those attorneys are former Federal Prosecutors themselves and know all of the ins and outs of the Department of Justice; and government attorneys prefer to prosecute low-hanging fruit (meaning, targets without high-stake political entanglements). (Location 1631)
At times like these, I also prayed The Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” (Location 1682)
I consider the tragedy of 9-11 to be a total failure by the U.S. government. Prior to 9-11, the United States was completely ignorant of the terror threats, and our overall understanding of Muslims, Arabs and Islam was minimal at best. I do not believe that we have become substantially wiser or more knowledgeable in this regard. (Location 1937)
Peace-loving Muslims would disavow the statement that the Koran teaches that all the infidels must die. They interpret holy war (“jihad”) to mean the internal holy war we all must face as humans—the struggle of good versus evil. (Location 1941)
It is critical to feed your mind good, positive thoughts and surround yourself with good people with good energy. (Location 1953)
We are all responsible for the information we ingest, just as we are responsible for the food we ingest. (Location 1954)
It was yet another reminder of how fragile life is, and how everything can change in a New York minute. More importantly, it was a wake-up call and a reminder never to ignore your own instincts and intuition in favor of what a doctor may be saying. A doctor does not live in your skin—only you do. Only you truly feel what you are experiencing, health-wise and otherwise. It is important to be switched on and actively involved in your own wellness and medical care. (Location 1986)
CIs are the lifeline of any street agent. They are in a position to provide the who, what, when, where and how of a criminal organization. (Location 2068)
Didn’t anybody ask the right questions? (Location 2081)
Just one agent who was switched off instead of on could have torpedoed our operation before it ever got off the ground. So, we reminded everyone of the old adage, “Loose lips sink ships!” (Location 2226)
In times of crisis and chaos, both the body and mind shut down due to the adrenaline surge that comes from being in fight-or-flight mode. The mind goes blank—unless it has previously been trained to react. Once you find yourself in a crisis event, it is too late to think of a plan of action. Your only hope is your memory bank. In the heat of battle, the training kicks in at the very moment your conscious mind fails you due to adrenaline rushes and fear. Your mind will automatically retrieve the plan you’ve rehearsed, assuming that there is a plan in place to retrieve. If you’re well trained, then the body will potentially follow—and both mind and body will be safe. (Location 2273)
In preparation for a pending press conference days before the operation, I had suggested to the U.S. Attorney’s office that we utilize MBI Grand Jury exhibits which included photos of the tactical flight vests manufactured by MBI and worn by U.S. fighter pilots and other servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan. I had felt that it was important that the media and public understand that national security was at the very heart of this case. Unfortunately, my advice fell on deaf ears. I would simply ask the citizens of New Bedford this question: “Has turning a blind eye to illegal aliens, with all the residual crime and costs that flows from that, helped your city prosper over the decade? Who has it empowered, other than politicians and nongovernmental organizations?” Anyone can stand up and make great speeches, saying, “We should all be inclusive!” (Location 2398)
I asked myself, Who is feeding the beast? The answer to that question turned out to be: MIRAC. A Carnegie Corporation Case Study, entitled “Reframing the Immigration Debate, How the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRAC) Retooled its Communication Strategy,” is an astonishing document. (Location 2457)
Malcolm X once said, “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent. That’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” (Location 2482)
A martial artist starts with this simple fact in mind: The battles will be won when we’re willing to face ourselves. I discovered throughout my mixed martial arts training that there were many uncomfortable moments—just like there are uncomfortable days on the journey of life. But in life and in my training, the key is to identify my limitations and work through them. (Location 2539)
One last interesting note about Confidential Informants: Contrary to what we see in the movies and on T.V., CIs do not always end up in the witness protection program. It is not an easy task to get an individual into witness protection. (Location 2611)
Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech from 1910 is a powerful statement to live by: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” (Location 3125)
The dark provides endless hiding places. Unless they are mentally deranged, predators don’t want to get caught. Like the lion, they select the weak or soft targets to attack. So, you must present yourself as a hard target, not a soft one, so the lion passes you over and keeps searching for a soft target.” (Location 3156)
Your body could freeze and become paralyzed with fear. But, if you’ve trained your mind in advance, that mental training will kick in and catch you like a safety net.” (Location 3162)
Even as we’re fighting the good fight, and staying positive, we must take great care not to wander off into the land of magical thinking, where we allow ourselves to tune out and pretend that danger and peril do not exist. (Location 3248)
