It was the last week of July, heading into the lazy dog days of official Washington, but Michael Chertoff was suddenly busy. The homeland security secretary discreetly asked subordinates about plans developed months or even years ago, focused on aviation safety, threat levels and other minutiae. In briefings, he quizzed staffers about responses to an aviation threat: What was the default plan for going to "orange alert"? What items can we ban from airplanes if we need to? Those taking the questions -- including many of Chertoff's closest aides -- had no idea what was really going on, two senior...
