After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Canadian agencies willingly collaborated in the War on Terror launched by the United States to destroy Al Qaeda. This partnership went seriously astray, however, amid a series of fundamental errors by Canadian agencies and their misplaced trust in American willingness to abide by both international and US laws against torture. As a result, numerous Canadian citizens and residents were illicitly detained abroad and subjected to suffering and mistreatment.

In Detained Daniel Livermore analyzes the emergence of Islamic fundamentalist extremism and its Canadian implications, including the erroneous investigations that targeted Canadians and led to their detentions in Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, Tunisia, and Sudan. Scrutinizing the most prominent cases, he details the role of Canadian agencies in the imprisonments and relates how subsequent court cases brought the situations to light, resulting in settlements and apologies to Ahmad Abou-El-Maati, Abdullah Almalki, and Maher Arar, among others. Drawing on his experience in Canada's foreign ministry, Livermore explains how an essentially misguided War on Terror emerged and how Canadian-American cooperation went wrong.

A gripping blend of memoir and meticulous research, Detained urges a more mature and rational discussion of security and intelligence issues in Canada and greater understanding of the failures of security cooperation in the decade after 9/11.