David McCloskey: Secrets of a Novelist
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
David McCloskey, former CIA Analyst turned novelist is out with his fourth book, The Persian, about an Iranian dentist who is recruited by Mossad to take on a dangerous mission inside Iran. Cover Stories Host Suzanne Kelly digs in on how McCloskey’s real-life Intelligence background fueled his latest novel, and discovers a few of McCloskey’s own secrets along the way.
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The Person Who Wrote the Book on Writing Books
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Have you ever wanted to write a book but not known where to start? We’ve got some answers for you. Jane Friedman, the author of ” joins us to explain the ins and outs of deciding what kind of publisher is right for your writing, how to approach a literary agent, what to include in a book proposal and much more. She offers author-wannabees a wealth of advice and resources on how to navigate the publishing landscape.
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The Spy and the Devil
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Former British diplomat and current Cipher Brief expert Tim Willasey-Wilsey is just out with a book called ” We’ll talk with him about the never before told story of Baron Wilhelm Von de Ropp, a German aristocrat, who became a British citizen and who spied on the Nazis for the UK from 1931 to 1939.The book is a deeply researched and documented work of history. “Bill de Ropp” as he came to be known had multiple personal meetings with Adolf Hitler and was credited in 1938 as providing at least 70% of MI-6’s German political intelligence.
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Talking “Skwerl” and “Cheese” with author Elliot Ackerman
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Author and former Marine Elliot Ackerman’s latest tale is about an ex-CIA Ground Branch operator who goes by his call sign, “Skwerl” and a former Afghan special ops pilot who goes by the name “Big Cheese” so you’re probably already getting a good picture of Ackerman’s latest novel Sheepdogs, which follows Skwerl and Cheese on a globe-trotting adventure from Uganda to Marseille. Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly welcomed Ackerman to the Cover Stories Studio to talk about missing handlers, hidden cargo and shadow war.
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The North Korean Threat: Intelligence and Diplomacy
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Ambassador Joe DeTrani’s The North Korean Threat: Intelligence and Diplomacy — A Personal Memoir is a candid insider’s account of more than three decades navigating the perilous world of U.S.–North Korea relations. We’ll talk with him about some of his experiences as a CIA officer, senior U.S. negotiator, and Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks. In his book, which is available for free , DeTrani blends gripping personal stories with sharp analysis of nuclear diplomacy, intelligence challenges, and the delicate regional dynamics that shaped negotiations. The memoir...
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The Moldavian Gambit
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Lots of forces were released when the Soviet Union came apart in the early 1990s. Brad Meslin imagines the worst case scenario in his novel “ in which a man-portable nuclear device goes missing from a Soviet arsenal in Moldova and may have ended up in the hands of terrorists threatening to detonate in a western capital. Meslin has worked in “the intersection of aerospace, defense, private equity, and national security.” His debut novel was d in the Cipher Brief by former CIA counterproliferation officer Jim Lawler who praised the book for its realism and heart-stopping plot. We...
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Rekindling Memories of the Fuji Fire
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
In October1979, the most powerful cyclone in recorded history, raced across the Pacific and set in motion circumstances that caused a horrendous fire at a U.S. Marine Corps facility at the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji. Thirteen Marines died of their burns and more than 70 other people were seriously injured. And yet few people today know of or remember these events. Chas Henry who served twenty years as a Marine and went on to have a highly successful career as a broadcast journalist – is out with a new book called “” We will talk with him about his four-year-long...
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Taking Midway with Martin Dugard
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Martin Dugard is an enormously prolific, best-selling author. In addition to ten mega-million selling books co-authored with Bill O’Reilly, He has authored a fistful of books about World War II including “Taking London,” “Taking Berlin” and “Taking Paris.” Now he is back with Podcast host Bill Harlow will talk with him about his sources and methods for cranking out so many deeply researched and well-received books – and what the world should know about a crusty 4-star admiral and a quirky Navy commander who combined to surprise the Imperial Japanese Navy and the world in...
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Adapting CIA Training to Survive in Hollywood
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
Former CIA Officer Rodney Faraon served in some pretty fascinating roles at CIA – including as a daily briefer to former director George Tenet and as Chief of the unit that dealt with Chinese and Taiwanese relations. Since retiring, he’s kept his analytic hat on as a Partner at Crumpton Global but he also took a turn toward Hollywood and did what many who have come from the Agency – have yet to do – launch a show for television. In this episode of the Cover Stories podcast, Rodney spills the secrets on how he adopted his CIA skills to help him survive in Hollywood.
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The Paranormal Ranger
Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment
From 2007 – 2012, the Pentagon secretly funded a small program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program tasked with investigating reports of military encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. In 2020, the Defense Department launched a new unit called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force led by the U.S. Navy. And in 2022, the Pentagon created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office – meant to identify, track and better share information with Congress and the public about the events they could not explain and looking at those events through the lens of...
info_outlineFormer British diplomat and current Cipher Brief expert Tim Willasey-Wilsey is just out with a book called “The Spy and the Devil: The Untold Story of the MI6 Agent Who Penetrated Hitler’s Inner Circle” We’ll talk with him about the never before told story of Baron Wilhelm Von de Ropp, a German aristocrat, who became a British citizen and who spied on the Nazis for the UK from 1931 to 1939.The book is a deeply researched and documented work of history. “Bill de Ropp” as he came to be known had multiple personal meetings with Adolf Hitler and was credited in 1938 as providing at least 70% of MI-6’s German political intelligence.