Clara Usiskin is a human rights investigator who documents national security-related abuses around the world, with a particular focus on the East and Horn of Africa. She was formerly a National Security Fellow at the Open Society Justice Initiative and Deputy Director of the Secret Prisons team at Reprieve.

'Clara Usiskin is a leading member of that surprisingly small band of lawyers, researchers, journalists and law-makers who painstakingly forced into the open some of the most disturbing secrets of the so-called war on terror. In this book she sheds new light on one of the major battlefields of that war. This is an invaluable contribution to the history of a very dark time." -- Ian Cobain, author of The History Thieves

"A highly disturbing but essential bookEL Usiskin's kaleidoscopic accounts of renditions, secret detentions and extrajudicial killings highlight the incredible reach of American and British power into African polities, as well as the eagerness of east African governments to use the 'War on Terror' to justify increased surveillance of everyday citizens, torture of political opponents, attacks on national judiciaries and violence against minority populations." -- Dr Phil Clark, Reader in Comparative and International Politics, SOAS

"If you want to understand how US renditions and secret detentions work in Africa and how allies of Washington such as the UK have supported these Counter-Terrorism efforts -- buy this book. A really sobering and important book to read." -- Alex Vines, Head of the Africa Program, Chatham House

"Clara Usiskin takes the reader on a journey through Britain's colonial past and Al Qaeda's attacks in the 1990s to the modern cyber confrontation in the region. A book full of fascinating insight and episodes, revealing the troubling and enduring nature of terrorism in the region." -- Professor Michael Goodman, King's College London

"A harrowing first-hand account of the US war on terror. Usiskin goes deep into the belly of the beast to bring us some of the most heart-wrenching accounts of torture against detainees accused of masterminding acts of terror against America and its allies in East Africa. This book is unique in several ways, particularly in its combination of a refined legal investigation and extremely cautious investigative journalism." -- Jok Madut Jok, co-founder of the Sudd Institute

"This book is a must-read to understand how the misguided US and British security policies in East Africa destabilize the region, from someone who has put in the long hours there." -- Clive Stafford Smith, Founder, Reprieve

"America's Covert War in East Africa is the harrowing and ongoing story of how a fundamentally misguided security policy--surveillance, rendition, assassination--has warped and destabilized the politics of a region and devastated countless innocent lives."--New Internationalist

"Usikin writes clearly and emotes very effectively ... This is an informative read for anyone interested in the East African experiences during the almost two-decade-long global 'War on Terror'."-- LSE Review of Books

"Usiskin skilfully combines eye-witness accounts, personal testimony and excerpts from official documentation to construct a chilling portrayal of a sinister apparatus of illegality and terror." -- Counterfire