Missing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran was written by Barry Meier [Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 2016].
In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the US.
Barry Meier, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, draws on years of interviews and never-before-disclosed CIA files to weave together a riveting narrative of the ex-agent’s journey to Iran and the hunt to rescue him. This is a tale that brings us into the nexus of crime, business, espionage, and murky international laws, where secrets are currency and betrayal commonplace. Includes CIA operatives, Russian oligarchs, arms dealers, White House officials, gangsters, private eyes, FBI agents, journalists, and a fugitive American terrorist and assassin.
Missing Man is set against the backdrop of the twilight war between the US and Iran, in which hostages are used as political pawns.
Moran, associate professor of US National Security at the University of Warwick (UK), wonders what happened to the days when spies adhered to their oaths to keep quiet, and to never betray operations or agents. For decades, CIA’s Publications Review Board (PRB) routinely vets, redacts, and approves dozens of books by former officers. Some of these memoirs in recent years received huge advances and attracted considerable publicity. Moran examines the motivations of those who write these memoirs as well as the changing policies of the PRB.
Surveillant: Literature for the Intelligence Professional 