Just two weeks after the 9-11 attacks, Art finished reading a book called "Joshua's Hammer." Even though it's a novel, the book's premise was so relevant regarding 9/11 that Art had to bring on the author, David Hagberg, an ex-Air Force cryptographer who traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and has spoken at various CIA functions. He also writes as Sean Flannery and has published more than a dozen novels of suspense. Art was amazed at Hagberg's insights into Bin Laden's organization and how the description of events in his story (written more than a year before 9-11) ring true today.
Hagberg shared insights were from his Air Force days when he worked as a cryptographer, listening to the Russians, though much of the conversation in the second hour was about Osama Bin Laden (a character in his book) and how he started Al Qaeda. In his books, the "good guys" always win and everything is cleared up nicely – but Hagberg knows that in the real world it doesn't work like this. Art asks David how it will affect the organization when Bin Laden is dead. His response: "If he falls, his organization will fragment." There are many other organizations besides Al Qaeda and Hamas but most of them aren't too powerful, he added.
He noted how surreal it was that so much of his fictional story was becoming truth. Hagberg said he's connected to some CIA people who fill him in on what's going on, but he also uses various other sources to help him with his novels. The first hour featured news and Open Lines, mostly about the 9-11 attacks.