William W. Keller is a graduate of Princeton University with a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University. He worked as a security analyst for the U.S. Congress for ten years, as executive director of the Center for International Studies at MIT, and as director of the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He current serves as director of the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia. He has held the highest security clearances and has written extensively about the FBI, defense technology, multinational corporations, the intelligence community, and the arms trade. He is the author of six books including Myth of the Global Corporation and Arm in Arm: The Political Economy of the Global Arms Trade.

A vital and important look at the rise of a security state that is transforming the nature of our democracy
In the aftermath of 9/11, in lockstep with
booming technological advancements, a new
and more authoritarian form of governance is
supplanting liberal democracy. The creation of
the Security Industrial Complex - an "internal
security state-within-the-state" fueled by tech
companies, private security firms, and the Intelligence
Community to the tune of $120 billion
a year - is intruding on civil liberties to an unprecedented
extent. Politicians tolerate it; some
citizens welcome it, thinking it may be the way
to keep America safe in a time of uncertainty
and terrorism. But how real is this threat, and is
it worth the loss of our individual privacy?
As a society, we have yet to comprehend the
meaning of universal digital interconnection, its
impact on our psychology, and its transformation
of our government and society. America
is at a crossroads in contending with a security
goliath; allowing the beginnings of a police state, and the
conversion of our of our "liberal democracy" to
a "secure democracy"- one where government
overreaches, tramples on civil liberties, and harnesses
great advancements in technology to spy
on the populace. Keller walks us through what
these changes can mean to our society and, more
importantly, what we can do to halt our march
toward intrusive and widespread surveillance.
An urgent wakeup call for a country in crisis,
Democracy Betrayed is a timely and deeply
important book about the future of America.