On October 12, 2000, eleven months before the 9/11 attacks, Al Qaeda detonated a bomb alongside the USS Cole in the port of Aden in Yemen. The ship's commander, Kirk Lippold, knew in a matter of moments that the Cole had been attacked. What he didn't know was how much the world was changing around him. In this gripping first-person narrative, Lippold reveals the details of his harrowing experience leading a crew of valiant sailors through the deadliest terrorist attack on an American warship in history. He'll also explain how bureaucrats and politicians reacted to the attack, ignored the dangerous warning signs it foretold, and avoided responsibility before the event was overshadowed by 9/11. An essential recounting of a critical moment in America's battle against Al Qaeda, Front Burnerdetails a crucial story that has until now been lost in the fog of the war on terror.