I refuse to talk more about the US Attorney General Eric Holder and his misguided attempt to reconcile Bush-era interrogation methods via the investigation and possible prosecution of CIA operatives. However, I will say the act of appointing a federal prosecutor in and of itself is a strike—intentional or not—at the heart of what keeps America secure.

The espionage void began shortly after the Berlin wall fell. Russia, or what was left of it, was no longer seen as a great threat. Nuclear weapons were de-commissioned; nuclear non-proliferation was on the uptake. All of a sudden the nuclear armed countries had all these expensive and technically complicated rockets that were no longer needed. An effort began then to disarm, and with disarmament came downsizing of various intelligence gathering agencies. Fear of instant annihilation was set aside as a reasonable issue for consideration at another time. And at that point or somewhere close to that point the baby was thrown out with the bath water. If these big threats, we were thinking, were no longer as concerning then why spend billions on spying-information collection and analysis? It made no sense, besides that we needed money for other things.

This was a clear bi-partisan error committed under Reagan and Bush 41 and carried over into the Clinton era. The difference being that Reagan and Bush valued the contributions made by those agencies and Mr. Clinton didn’t. Bill Clinton had, at best, distain for them and dismantled them during his presidency. He even apparently ignored warnings from those agencies that further attacks against US interests overseas were eminent.  In addition to the first World Trade Center bombing in `93, there were the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. To be fair I should mention that President Clinton vowed to hunt the culprits down and bring them to justice, but was hindered in the attempt to do a thorough job by a number of legitimate factors. There is also a good chance the Monica Lewinsky scandal had a deleterious effect on the president’s judgment at the time. At least it would have mine.

Now, after a disastrous eight years trying to reorganize and repair our country—after 9/11 and two wars—we find ourselves needing quality intelligence as much as we did during the cold-war. Instead of our government providing support to the CIA, political and otherwise, the attorney general wants to expose the ugly side of something (espionage) we all know exits. This looks and smells to me like one of those back room hidden agendas you hear about from the far left and far right conspiracy kooks. You don’t suppose I’m being influenced by those kooks do you?

My interest in espionage, the CIA, and military intelligence work never waned, although marriage, education, kids and my profession all took precedence during the following years.

 In 1977 I embarked on a mission to further my understanding of two more interests I’d only day-dreamed about; The Holy Land and archaeology. My wife Nancy Egner (deceased 1994) surprised me with a tour package for my birthday. I tried several times in the following months to talk her into going with me but Nancy opted to look after our two young children not wanting to burden relatives with that task for two weeks.

The plane full of tourists, including me, landed in Amman, Jordan after dark on October 17, 1977. We were ushered to our hotel with orders from our guide to get some rest so we’d be ready for a busy day of sight-seeing. I tried to take a shower but the pressure was nonexistent. I tried to sleep but was too excited. I was hungry but the hotel wasn’t a Marriott, not even close and as far as I could see out my fourth story window there was not a neon sign advertising food and drink anywhere. I learned to adapt. More tomorrow.

I was told by my publisher that The Moriah Ruse is going into print this week. That means it will be released to the market in late October or early November, a full year since I typed the final sentence. I began writing the novel in late `07 and by the time the self-editing was complete a year had passed quickly by. Now another year has passed. Writing, revising, editing, publishing and marketing a book takes a lot of time. I’ve read where authors do it in a few months and I wonder how.

The Moriah Ruse is my first spy yarn, a sequel to The Margin which was my first novel—a tale of lost treasure, kidnapping and murder. A protagonist was created in The Margin many readers liked and suggested she play a role in my next book. I liked the protagonist myself and had already decided to give her a prominent place in book two.  So, bolstered by encouragement from readers she and a few others from The Margin make their way from crime solving to deep cover espionage.