"Writers emerging from one of the world’s most secretive organizations is perhaps not as strange or ironic as it sounds. On its face, of course, espionage lends itself to colorful stories. There’s the tradecraft—wigs, disguises, false passports, dead drops, brush passes. The secrecy and elitism of a closed world. The sex appeal of trying to woo informants, convince odd characters to betray their countries. The exotic, often gritty, locales. The danger and high stakes of global issues like terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, rogue nation-states. If this isn’t top-shelf thriller stuff, what is?
But in the years since I left the agency, I’ve learned there are also less obvious things that compel a former to start typing. The quieter wraiths. Ghosts of decisions, the effects of war, failed or unresolved operations—all the things that pop into your head in the grocery store and wake you up at zero dark thirty. In my case, I helped apprehend an alleged Al-Qaeda terrorist in Baghdad—only to learn, years later, we might have nabbed the wrong guy. The irresolution and guilt still plague me; they came out in my novel in the form of a spy caught in the crosswinds of the Arab Spring who makes decisions that have lasting and unintended consequences. Espionage, I often say, is a profession of loose ends."
RTWT
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