Tommy Corrigan Passes Away

I wanted to mark the passing of Tommy Corrigan, a 20-year veteran of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, who died of complications from leukemia on Monday.

I met Tommy a few years ago while working on a documentary about the Bosnia war. His reputation as one of the smartest, most knowledgeable people investigating terrorism preceded him, and he lived up to it. He worked on some of the most important cases of the 1990s, including a major part in breaking up the Brooklyn terrorist cell connected to the World Trade Center bombing and a subsequent plot to blow up the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, a tragedy he helped prevent, and later conducting a lot of early work looking at Al Qaeda.

We kept in touch, and Tommy was a tremendous help to me as I worked on my book. After the book was finished, we continued to talk. He had a very active spirit and was going stir-crazy under restrictions on his activity that stemmed from his fight with leukemia, and we'd talk about cold cases and the minutiae of some of his cases.

I am certain I talked to him more after the book was finished than I did while interviewing him. I was always glad to hear from him, and I considered him a friend. He will be missed.

Click here for more about Tommy Corrigan, including arrangements.

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