A Toronto author says his just released book -- Inside Canadian Intelligence -- was written as a "wake-up call," but he was still stunned by last weekend's events.

One day after Dwight Hamilton released his book Torontonians found out there may have been a homegrown terror ring in their midst.

"It was a wake-up call for Canada to make them more security conscious," Hamilton said.

After 9/11, the former Sun freelance writer began work on his 252-page book published by the Dundurn Group.

TRAINING MANUAL

The opening chapter looks at what Hamilton refers to "as the al-Qaida jihad training manual."

"It is a total subversion manual for our society. Any Western country will do."

It shows how "brothers" can find secure apartments, hiding places, transportation, and codes.

They're told about a paperless trail to get money through an underground network called "Hawallah."

"CSIS doesn't have the manpower to deal with the threat," Hamilton said.

"They've been gutted. And just because [staff] numbers went up after 9/11 doesn't mean that all is well," he said.

"Training an intelligence analyst takes about as long as training a neurosurgeon -- you do the math," Hamilton said.