Terry McDermott is a journalist who served as a national correspondent with the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

and is author of ''Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers, Who They Were, Why They Did It'', an investigative non-fiction book profiling the

hijackers Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''like ...

of the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

as well as the Al-Qaeda leaders who planned and orchestrated the attacks. McDermott has claimed that ''Perfect Soldiers'' is the sole book among "more than ten thousand" books published about the 9/11 attacks which focuses entirely on the hijackers.

Career

McDermott was a reporter for thirty years. As a reporter, he covered a number of topics such as county zoning boards, state legislatures, the culture of the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

radical Islam Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic und ...

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

s, the search for rare blood molecule, the

California Dream The California Dream is the psychological motivation to gain fast wealth or fame in a new land. As a result of the California Gold Rush after 1849, California's name became indelibly connected with the Gold Rush, and fast success in a new world ...

, and coffee in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Prior to his work as a reporter, he held jobs as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

, a political campaign manager, and an interpreter of satellite reconnaissance imagery in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. McDermott's research for ''Perfect Soldiers'' involved meeting and interviewing the families and former associates of the 9/11 hijackers. He has stated that the sparsity of books about the hijackers themselves is caused by a lack of available information about them; McDermott has cited the difficulty of locating and interviewing the relatives and other acquaintances of the hijackers in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and other countries. Following the publication of ''Perfect Soldiers'', McDermott has been interviewed in several documentaries on the 9/11 attacks and the

Hamburg cell The Hamburg cell (german: Hamburger Zelle) or Hamburg terror cell (german: Hamburger Terrorzelle) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany, that included students from dif ...

in general, including the History Channel documentary ''9/11: Inside the Hamburg Cell'' and the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

documentaries ''

Inside 9/11 ''Inside 9/11'' is a three-part television documentary film produced by Towers Productions that premiered on August 21 and August 22, 2005, on the National Geographic Channel. The program covers the September 11 attacks in 2001, the events that ...

'' (2005) and ''9/10: The Final Hours''.

Personal

McDermott is a native of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He currently resides in southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He has a graduate degree in urban studies.

Books

*''Perfect Soldiers – The Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It'', was published by HarperCollins in 2005. A trade paperback edition was released in August 2006. *''101 Theory Drive: A Scientist’s Pursuit of Memory Pantheon'', April, 2010, paperback April 2011. *''The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed'', co-authored by

Josh Meyer Josh Meyer is an author, screenwriter, lecturer, and reporter. He has worked for various media and is currently with Politico. Education According to his profile page at ''Politico'', Meyer is from the Boston area. He has Bachelor of Arts degrees ...

, Little Brown March, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Terry American male journalists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)