In August 1960, Allen Dulles, CIA director, revealed all, just after Eisenhower ordered the assassination of Lumumba in Congo & USSR convicted U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage: “Thank you for your letter about my addiction to pipe smoking. Without in any way endorsing

This a big blow to many in the Agency’s Directorate of Operations, who welcomed appointment of Ralph Goff as DDO and saw him as a tough, no-nonsense professional CIA drops agency veteran from consideration as chief of clandestine operations - POLITICO politico.com/news/2025/04/0…

It’s that time of year again…

*fewer* generals

"This isn't the Gerry Adams show even though you might want to turn it into that” - Paul Gallagher SC. Gallagher was lawyer who took apart Thomas “Slab” Murphy in a Dublin courtroom in 1998. Murphy, named as an IRA commander, had sued for libel - he lost. bbc.com/news/articles/…

I was honored this Memorial Day weekend to visit a number of CIA graves at Arlington National Cemetery, including those of William Buckley, Doug Zembiec, Brian Hoke, Nate Delemarre, and Elizabeth Hanson. It was poignant to stop by the final resting places of Mike Spann and

The name of Keith Allen Butler, a former Green Beret major who served for 37 years in the Army and Marines, has today been added to CIA Book of Honor. Butler, 56, was a paramilitary contractor who was KIA in Afghanistan on May 10, 2014. He also served in Panama, Somalia,

Clive was a good pal at Corpus, a gentle soul and erudite historian who was capable, when the opportunity presented itself, of epic feats of endurance drinking.

Remembering Major Paul Syverson, 32, killed in Iraq this day 21 years ago - June 16, 2004. On November 26, 2001, a 2,000-pound US JDAM landed on a friendly position at Qala-i-Jangi, Afghanistan. Captain Syverson - pictured here in the foreground with Captain Anthony Jarrett and

Thinking today about my friend Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, killed in action beside Shamalan canal, Helmand, Afghanistan, during Operation Panther’s Claw 16 years ago today - July 1, 2009. Rupert, who I first got to know when he was a captain in an intelligence role in Northern

Can anyone identify the trees to the left and right of this North Carolina farmhouse, and the purple flowers in the foreground?