While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty.
McCloskey worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring and conducted a rotation in the Counterterrorism Center focused on the jihad in Syria and Iraq. During his time at McKinsey, he advised national security, aerospace, and transportation clients on a range of strategic and operational issues.
For the Waterstones blog McCloskey tagged five favorite spy novels, including:
The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. BerryRead about another novel on the list.
This espionage tale is set in Bahrain during the heart of the Arab Awakening and is for my money one of the best characterizations of a CIA case officer in print, in no small part because the author, I.S. Berry was one herself. The Bahrain of this novel is deeply atmospheric; the Gulf humidity practically seeps off the pages. The ins and outs of asset handling, Agency lingo, and the often-tense relations between the State Department and a CIA Station are perfectly captured. For all its authenticity, though, in the end I love this book for its depiction of case officer Shane Collins and his intimate, conflicted, and deeply flawed relationship with Almaisa, a Bahraini woman who is not at all what she seems.
Q&A with I.S. Berry.
The Page 69 Test: The Peacock and the Sparrow.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
