Former Chicago and Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, who in 2009 was appointed by President Barack Obama to direct an important executive branch office, had in 2008 co-authored an article containing a plan for the government to prevent the spread of anti-government "conspiracy theories." Arguing that such theories are believed only by groups suffering from "informational isolation," he advocated the use of anonymous government agents to engage in "cognitive infiltration" of these groups in order to introduce "cognitive diversity," with the aim of breaking them up.

Noting that Sunstein's proposal has evoked condemnations from across the political spectrum--not least because it, being similar to the FBI's COINTELPRO of the 1960s, would be illegal--David Ray Griffin focuses on the fact that Sunstein's primary target is the conspiracy theory advocated by the 9/11 Truth Movement. Examining Sunstein's charge that this theory is both "harmful" and "demonstrably false," Griffin uses both satire and overwhelming evidence to show that this twofold charge applies instead to what Sunstein calls "the true conspiracy theory" about 9/11-namely, the "theory that Al-Qaeda was responsible for 9/11."

Cover Reviews:

“David Ray Griffin has written a devastating critique of Cass Sunstein’s major effort to situate all critics of the official 9/11 story in the garbage pail of ‘conspiracy theory.’ Bringing to bear his formidable philosophical and theological skills, Griffin brilliantly illuminates this cognitive/ political concern, demonstrating that the American people will never find out what really happened on that fateful day until we as citizens insist on considering all available evidence with a fresh and open mind.”

—Richard Falk, professor emeritus, Princeton University

“There should be a book entitled the ‘Courage of David Ray Griffin.’ His continuing efforts to speak truth to power regarding issues of 9/11/2001 are most admirable. Griffin’s Cognitive Infiltration addresses the central denial of key government officials in both parties who, when faced with overwhelming factual evidence of serious problems with the 9/11 Commission’s report, lash out at the very people seeking truth and justice. Cass Sunstein is one of those Harvard ‘insiders’ who not only denies open democratic questioning of 9/11, but overtly advocates the disruption and cognitive infiltration of such groups.”

—Peter Phillips, Professor of Sociology, Sonoma State University, and President of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

“Unrestrained and unchallenged combination of top level political power and academic intellectual arrogance can be a dangerous prelude to governmental censorship and potential criminalization of individuals who dare to challenge ‘official’ versions of various catastrophes and major events of a highly controversial nature. Dr. David Ray Griffin exposes and analyses this grave concern in an objective, scholarly dissection of a sociopolitical proposal set forth by Cass Sunstein in 2008. Readers of Cognitive Infiltration will be both shocked and enlightened by this well documented and brilliantly written book.”

—Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D., past president, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and past president, American College of Legal Medicine

“In 2009, President Obama appointed a Harvard Law School professor, Cass Sunstein, to be head of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This was after Sunstein had made a controversial proposal, which would later inflame the internet, for ‘cognitive infiltration’ of the 9/11 Truth Movement, with the aim of ‘breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories.’ Professor Griffin has responded to Sunstein’s dangerous argument with a patient, point-by-point and much needed refutation. He relentlessly shows how Sunstein himself is guilty of the very mentality he warns against: closed-mindedness and refusal to debate. Those who seek to prevent 2010 from becoming 1984 will want to arm themselves with this valuable book.”

—Peter Dale Scott, professor emeritus of English, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Drugs, Oil, and War

“David Ray Griffin is the preeminent expert on the events of September 11, 2001; his research is consistently careful, thorough, and objective. His previous books are necessary reading for all Americans, and there is no doubt that thousands of Americans in government circles have read them, studied them, and, in some cases, worried about them. In Cognitive Infiltration, Griffin impartially dissects Harvard Constitutional Law Professor Cass Sunstein’s controversial essay, co-written by conservative law professor Adrian Vermeule, entitled ‘Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures.’ Surprisingly, given the sensitivity and potential divisiveness of the topic, Griffin has produced a fair, generously fact-filled, often funny, assessment. Additional interest is provided by the suggestion that Sunstein—far from being an enemy of both the Constitution and the 9/11 Truth Movement—may in fact be a secret supporter and a potential bridge- builder from the current government fictions regarding 9/11 to an improved national consensus about what really happened.”

—Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D., USAF Lt Colonel (retired), member of Veterans for 9/11 Truth

About the Author:

David Ray Griffin is professor of philosophy of religion and theology, emeritus, at Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, where he remains a co-director of the Center for Process Studies. He is the author of over 30 books.

Cognitive Infiltration: An Obama Appointee's Plan to Undermine the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory is available at Interlink Books (http://www.interlinkbooks.com) and at local bookstores for $18.

Olive Branch Press, September 2010),