The Looming Tower Trailer: Hulu's Limited Series Has the (Terrifying) Goods

Have communications between the (now increased) number of Federal agencies tasked with protecting the United States citizens improved since 9/11/2001?

We sure as hell have to hope they have.

Hulu is bringing to the small screen an adaptation of Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11."

The Looming Tower traces the rising threat of Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the late 1990s and how the rivalry between the FBI and CIA during that time may have inadvertently set the path for the tragedy of 9/11.

The series follows members of the I-49 Squad in New York and Alec Station in Washington, D.C., the counter-terrorism divisions of the FBI and CIA, respectively, as they travel the world fighting for ownership of information while seemingly working toward the same goal – trying to prevent an imminent attack on U.S. soil.

Needless to say, it doesn't go very well.

Some of the factors include The fact one of the most committed men to the cause, John O'Neil, wasn't as committed in his personal life. Was it a distraction to his work on behalf of the government? 

We can never ask him, but I know the affairs were real because my sister knew one of them personally. She arrived at the Chicago office just after O'Neil was moved to New York. 

She personally knew one of the EIGHT out of 10,000 agents who spoke Arabic. As O'Neil wonders in the trailer below, how seriously was the US taking the Al Qaeda threats if that's all they could drum up?

She was an FBI in Counter Terrorism while all of this was taking place. She was assigned to the search and rescue efforts after the Tanzania, one of the warning attacks leading up the the eventual attack on US soil. 

The Looming Tower, hailing from Dan Futterman and Alex Gibney (Going Clear) is compelling and almost nauseating as you learn of the missed opportunities, now clearer in hindsight, that could have changed the course of history.

The opening of the trailer sets the tone perfectly as O'Neil says this isn't a war on one man because his people actually believe.

Peter Sarsgaard's CIA Analyst Martin Schmidt disagrees countering with, "Someday this administration will be remembered by the risks it didn't take."

Did cutting of the head of Al Qaeda take them down or grow offshoots that may be stronger and longer lasting? It's too bad we can't get these men together again for a conversation.

Watch the trailer and let me know if you'll be tuning into Hulu on Wednesday, February 28 for the premiere of The Looming Tower.