Not Your Father's CIA

When looking at the world of the CIA, spycraft, and espionage, it fair to say that the images of both WWII and particularly the Cold War, shape our vision.  Unfortunately, it does not always allow us to understand the reinvented world of 21st-century coverts action and government secrecy.

Joining me to explore this, as he has done in his nine previous books about the CIA, is Washington Post global affairs columnist David Ignatius. His new book The Paladin:  he takes us inside today's very different world of spycraft.

My conversation with David Ignatius:

Tinker, Tailor, Hacker, Spy

Creative destruction, change, automation, the Internet of everything. These are all the issues that seem to impact every aspect of modern life. And whether you believe these things are good or bad, is not relevant. What is relevant is that they are happening everywhere, including in the context of American spycraft and diplomacy and in institutions like the CIA.

In a world where quick and nimble and of course secrecy are often the objective best practices, spycraft today has gotten more mired in the institutional morass of every bigger bureaucracy.

That’s the underlying backdrop for David Ignatius in his latest spy thriller, The Director.

My conversation with David Ignatius: