Cover Stories: Spies, Books & Entertainment

Veteran journalist Steve Coll is out with a new book dissecting the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein.  We talk with him about his discovery of unpublished and underreported information  which sheds new light into how “human error, cultural miscommunication, and hubris lead to one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time.” After listening to the podcast, we recommend the review of “The Achilles Trap” that recently appeared in The Cipher Brief: https://www.thecipherbrief.com/book-review/the-cia-and-the-invasion-of-iraq

Best-selling NYT author Mark Greaney returns for his third appearance on a Cipher Brief podcast – this time to mark the publication of his latest novel “The Chaos Agent” which is the latest in his “Gray Man” series. In the new novel Greaney mines the headlines about artificial intelligence. The book connects a car accident in Japan, a  drowning in Seoul, a home invasion in Boston, and someone killing the world’s leading experts on AI. We’ll talk to Mark about the challenge of producing a series of engaging thrillers – staying ahead of the news and satisfying his most discerning readers.

Award-winning author Tess Gerritsen, perhaps best-known for her medical and crime thrillers (like Rizzoli & Isles that was adapted for television), is trying her hand at the espionage game with her new thriller The Spy Coast. It seems in real life, the award-winning author noticed something a little odd about her neighbors in the small Maine town she calls home. She did some investigating of her own, only to find that many of her neighbors are retired spies and diplomats. Like any good novelist, she went back to her keyboard and created an international tale of espionage involving a group of retired spies who refer to themselves as ‘The Martini Club’.  Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly uncovers the details that led Gerritsen down this path in the latest episode of Cover Stories.

Just in time for the opening of spring training – we talk with author Adam Lazarus about his book: “The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams.”  Lazarus tells us about iconic Americas met during the crucible of combat during the Korean War. USMC  Captain Ted Williams, already a famed baseball player recalled to active duty to fly combat and soon-to-be famous Major John Glenn. Despite wildly different personalities, politics and approaches to life – the two formed a life-long bond that  may be instructive to us during the current time of a divided America.

Tammy Kupperman Thorp is chief spokesperson for the Central Intelligence Agency. Her principal role is communicating with major media organizations on matters of national security and helping CIA Director Bill Burns communicate with the Agency’s worldwide workforce.  But an interesting side aspect of her job involves coordinating the CIA's contact with the motion picture and television industry and major authors and publishers.  We’ll ask her how and why the Agency works with Hollywood and authors and will explode some myths about the CIA’s role in entertainment, documentaries and more.

Serial best-selling author George Galdorisi has written a ton of books, mostly novels including including several of the rebooted Tom Clancy Op-Center series . But now he and co-author Kevin McDonald are out with a very useful work of non-fiction giving aspiring writers tips on how to write, publish and sell a book. Practical advice from someone who has been there, done that – and will help you do so too.

Former Washington Post correspondent Liza Mundy is out with a new book called: “The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.” Mundy who previously wrote a New York Times bestseller “Code Girls” about female codebreakers of World War II turns her expert eye to telling the stories of three generations of women at the CIA. Mundy reveals a portrait of a workplace hampered by bias and male ego and yet an agency populated by intrepid women who found creative ways to work within – and expand – the confines of the roles to which they were funneled for decades. We will ask her to share some of the stories she has uncovered about the challenges and successes of a remarkable group of women.

Admiral Jim Stavridis has an amazing resume. Retired 4-star officer, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Dean Emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University and current Vice Chairman of the Carlyle Group and Chair of the Rockefeller Foundation. But our focus of this podcast (recorded live at The Cipher Brief’s Annual Threat Conference at Sea Island, GA) instead is on his record as a master communicator.  He is the author of 12 books, literally thousands of magazine, newspaper and professional journal articles and the subject of countless broadcast interviews. We’ll ask him why he devotes so much effort to communicating, whether his publications (which started when he was a midshipman) were ever frowned upon by his superiors, how he navigates subjects which are viewed as political –and his advice for national security experts who aspire to follow in his wake as a communicator.

Former CIA officer David McCloskey is out with his second novel.  His first, Damascus Station, received glowing reviews. Now he is back with a tale that Cipher Brief Russia experts say “brilliantly captures the nuances of field work in hostile environments” and provides a “propulsive thrill ride and a moving portrait of life, betrayal, and vengeance in Putin’s Russia.”  We will talk with him about writing a novel and the real-world facts that are the stuff of thrillers.

Michael O’Hanlon’s 2023 book, Military History for the Modern Strategist earned rave reviews from Cipher Brief Experts like General Stan McChrystal. Cover Stories co-host Suzanne Kelly sits down with the author to talk about the constant themes that emerged as he studied seven major wars and the three lessons that McChrystal called ‘required reading for policymakers’.