Annie Jacobsen is an American investigative journalist, author and 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist in history. She was a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times Magazine from 2009 until 2012. Jacobsen writes about war, weapons, security and secrets. Jacobsen is best known as the author of the 2011 nonfiction book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, which the New York Times called “cauldron-stirring.”^[1]

Books

Her 2011 book, Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, about the secret U.S. military base, addresses the Roswell UFO incident.^[2][3] It was on the New York Times bestseller list for thirteen weeks and has been translated into six languages. Area 51 is being developed into an AMC^[4] Series with Gale Anne Hurd^[5] as Executive Producer.

Jacobsen’s 2014 book, Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America^[6] was named “the most comprehensive, up-to-date narrative available to the general public” in a review by the CIA.^[7]Operation Paperclip was named one of the Best Books of 2014 by The Boston Globe^[8] and Apple iBooks ^[9]

The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top Secret Military Research Agency,^[10] was chosen as finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History.^[11] The Pulitzer committee described the book as “A brilliantly researched account of a small but powerful secret government agency whose military research profoundly affects world affairs.” The Washington Post, the Boston Global and the Amazon Editors chose Pentagon’s Brain as one of the best nonfiction books of 2015.

On Flight 327

In 2004, Jacobsen wrote an article about an incident she witnessed on an airplane with a group of thirteen foreign nationals on board a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. Two air marshals came out of cover during flight. FBI and Homeland Security agents met the aircraft when it landed.^[12] In May 2007, the Department of Homeland Security declassified a report about the flight. The men were identified as twelve Syrians, traveling as a musical group, and one Lebanese, their promoter, all traveling illegally on expired visas. Eight of the men had “positive hits” for past criminal records and suspicious behavior.^[13] They had been involved in an earlier incident on an aircraft which had them on the FBI watch list.

Bibliography

• Terror in the Skies: Why 9/11 Could Happen Again. Spence Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN 1-890626-62-7.
• Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, Hachette Digital, Inc., 2011, ISBN 1-4091-4113-6.
• Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America. Little, Brown. 11 February 2014. ISBN 978-0-316-22105-4.^[14]
• The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency. Little, Brown and Company. 2015. ISBN 0316371769. OCLC 900012161.