American Spy: Wry Reflections on My Life in the CIA

This ain't your daddy's spy story. In a memoir written as a series of narrative vignettes, a former CIA operations officer recounts his years of danger, intrigue, and adventure. This candid and darkly witty memoir recounts an exhilarating life --and a few close brushes with death. With remarkable sangfroid and a humorist's eye for absurdity, H. K. Roy describes his many strange and risky exploits in his long career with the CIA. Whether he was pursuing Soviet and Cuban spies, running denied area operations in Eastern Europe, hunting Bosnian War criminals, or providing actionable intelligence to US government and coalition forces in Iraq, Roy usually found himself at the right place at the right time. Except when he didn't--like the time he stumbled into a life-threatening ambush by Iranian terrorists while dodging Serb snipers and shelling in Sarajevo. Eight summers later, caught in a blinding sandstorm between Amman and Baghdad, he learned his fate was in the hands of an Iraqi tribal chief who had just lost his entire family to a US airstrike in Ramadi, in a failed attempt to kill Saddam Hussein that had tragic consequences. Combining dedication to duty with a maverick's disdain for bureaucracy, Roy makes it clear that he prefers foreign locales to Washington and thrives on the adrenaline rush that comes with danger. He also sheds much light on why intelligence is an essential component of national defense, even our very survival as a nation.

Author: H. K. Roy
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 09/24/2019
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781633885882


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2019

About the Author
H. K. Roy was a staff CIA operations officer for thirteen years. During his time of service (1983 to 1996), he served in Latin America, Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia, and received numerous awards from the US government. Since resigning from the CIA, he has continued to support its global mission. In 1996, he founded a private business intelligence firm focused on Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since 2003, he has developed and continues to run a business operation in Iraq. He has published articles on intelligence operations in World and I magazine and in the Foreign Service Journal.


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