CNN (CNN) -- The FBI interrogator who bluffed al Qaeda detainees into giving up significant intelligence began his career in an unusual way.





Ali Soufan's fraternity brothers bet him that the agency would never hire a guy like him.





A Lebanese-born American studying international relations at a Pennsylvania college, Soufan had just returned to his frat house after talking with a school official about what he should do with his life. It was 1994. His buddies gave him some good-natured ribbing. They said the agency would mark his application, "return to sender."





He laughs at the memory, joking that he thought the idea was crazy, too.





But Soufan's nature has always been to take the dare, he writes in his new memoir "The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda."





"I did some research (about the FBI) beyond 'The X-Files,' " he told CNN.com. He sent in his application. And to his shock, got a letter asking him to report to FBI training. It was the beginning of a storied career in intelligence.





During his FBI stint from 1997 to 2005, Soufan was the lead investigator on major terror investigations such as the October 2000 attack on the Navy's U.S.S. Cole which killed 17 sailors. He helped the agency investigate the attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in the late 1990s, and was a key interrogator of al Qaeda detainees after the 9/11 attacks. Read more about the global security firm he now leads.





Soufan's book details some of those interrogations of al Qaeda operatives, which he says led to the naming of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of 9/11 and led to the arrest of alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla.





"The Black Banners" opens with his earliest memories of growing up in Beirut, Lebanon, clinging to his family's staircase as bombs exploded outside his home.





"Everybody is scared of things," he told CNN.com. "I'm not scared of the dark. ... I'm talking about growing up and you don't have (security) most of the time. You're not going to be scared of the dark. On a human level, I have a lot of fears, but you live with these fears everyday."





The book weaves vivid, inside details about the war on terror, and asserts that playing "mental poker" with terrorism suspects is far more effective at making them give up their secrets than being physically aggressive.





"There is a difference between compliance and cooperation," he said. Compliance can result from torture -- a detainee will do anything to make the rough treatment end. But real cooperation, says Soufan, comes from engaging the detainee after learning everything possible about them.





Soufan's opinion contrasts with the Bush administration's assertion that waterboarding and other harsh tactics was their best option with several al Qaeda operatives.





When Soufan finished training at Quantico in November 1997, he was assigned to one of the FBI's busiest field offices in New York. He was the only agent in the office who spoke Arabic at the time; one of only eight agents in the country who was fluent, he says.





A new job is an exciting time for anyone, and Soufan was thrilled and nervous.





"You want to talk about fear? I was scared, I was nervous on my first day," he said. "I thought, really, my God, how the heck did I end up here? It was fear mixed with excitement, mixed with adventure."





In his first months on the job, Soufan relied on his language ability and his personal interest in the Middle East and North Africa to keep close watch on what mattered in the region.





At the time, a Saudi millionaire named Osama bin Laden was consistently making news with his calls for jihad against the West.





In early 1998, the young agent wrote a paper urging the FBI to focus on bin Laden. His bosses noticed and told him about bureau investigations of bin Laden. "Unfortunately,
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