October 24, 2024 • 34 mins
Intelligence memoirs offer unique perspectives into the shadowy world of espionage and counterterrorism, and few do it with as much intensity as Rick Prado's "Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior" and Pedro Israel Orta's "The Broken Whistle: A Deep State Run Amok." Have you ever wondered what it's like to navigate the complex web of traditional versus self-publishing, especially with a story that involves government secrets and potential redactions? I draw from personal experiences, sharing the careful balancing act between maintaining narrative integrity and avoiding the legal labyrinth that comes with challenging redactions. Explore the publishing landscape with us, weighing the creative freedoms and restrictions of each method.
The life of a CIA operative is anything but mundane. I recount my 19-year tenure within the agency, shedding light on the bureaucratic obstacles and emotional sacrifices faced when working in conflict zones. The journey through chapters seven to eleven of my memoir exposes the challenges of maintaining a captivating narrative while adhering to security protocols. Additionally, the flaws in whistleblower mechanisms are laid bare, urging a critical examination of how these systems operate and often fail those who dare to speak out. The personal cost of these battles is steep, but the stories that emerge provide a crucial glimpse into the intricacies of intelligence work.
The episode takes a sobering turn as we reflect on the broader themes of complacency and moral responsibility. Drawing inspiration from Martin Niemöller’s poignant words, we explore the dangers of inaction within powerful circles and the increasing weaponization of government power. There's a call for courage and intervention, emphasizing the need for those in positions of influence to stand against growing darkness. The parallels to the biblical story of the Good Samaritan highlight unexpected allies or lack thereof in facing these challenges. Join us in this episode as we confront the uncomfortable truths about institutional dysfunction and the moral imperative to act before it's too late.
For more details please visit www.pedroisraelorta.com. You can also follow me on most social media sites @PedroIsraelOrta.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For this broadcast, I want to continue to build upon
what was discussed in theprevious one on the Broken
Whistle A Deep State Run Amok.
I mentioned that for thisbroadcast I would be going into
the structure of the book, howit was written, and also to
compare some of the most recentintelligence memoirs published
by other authors.
Let's begin by looking at themost recent intelligence memoir.
(00:22):
This was published in 2022 bySt Martin's Press.
The book is titled Black Opsthe Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior
is the subtitle.
Written by Rick Prado, and it'sgot a tagline CIA
Counterterrorist Chief ofOperations Retired.
I highly recommend this book andI encourage you to go out and
(00:42):
buy it.
It is a very intense read asfar as the career of a true
patriot and a hero who spentmany years working in the front
lines of the war againstterrorism.
His book is about 400 pageslong and it follows a very
linear, progressive timeline,building upon his career, his
(01:04):
life, so that the reader looksat his entire life, from
beginning to end of.
You know his foundations, howhe grew up, what motivated him
to serve, how he started out theCIA, the downs and ups of
service in the CIA, workingoverseas, working at CIA
headquarters and so forth.
(01:25):
It's a very well balanced bookand it's written in first person
.
He's the main character andconsequently there's a lot of
I's, my I, so forth.
Now his book was againpublished by a major publisher.
Let's talk about the publishingprocess.
There are three ways to publisha book.
(01:45):
You can get a mainlinetraditional publisher to pick up
the book.
You can do what's known ashybrid, where you're paying a
publisher to basically help youto put the book together and to
put the book in distribution.
Or you can go theself-publishing route.
With each of these processesthere are advantages and
(02:06):
disadvantages.
The traditional publishinggives you the recognition of
having a publisher pick up yourbook, but there's a lot that
goes behind it and there areconsequences with such an action
.
To have a book picked up by atraditional publisher, typically
you have to propose amanuscript or a book, a title
(02:29):
and the content.
In your work.
You have to hire a literaryagent and the literary agent
will basically shop the ideaaround with traditional
publishers and hopefully atraditional publisher picks it
up.
And if a traditional publisherpicks it up, obviously you've
got some kind of agreement andin that agreement what happens
(02:49):
is the rights of the book arepredominantly owned by the
traditional publisher.
So the writer of the book haslimitations what he can do with
his own book.
Those limitations can stop youfrom doing movies, potentially
writing or translating the bookyourself, or doing something to
(03:10):
republish the book or having apublication where you can
generate more income from it.
Traditional publishing basicallyyields you a gain of pennies
for each book sold, and thereare reasons for that.
Specifically, a traditionalpublished book that's going to
(03:34):
get out into a bookstore.
In order to get a book into abookstore, it's also a process.
You are literally giving thebook away and you're almost
putting the book on loan orcollateral.
You have to provide what'sknown as a wholesale discount to
the booksellers and theyrequire anywhere from 52% to 55%
minimum and on top of that youhave to make the book returnable
(03:57):
at the wholesale value, whichmeans the wholesaler let's say
Barnes Noble if they want toreturn all the books, they can
return all the books and thepublisher has to pay the
bookseller the wholesale priceof the book.
Now, on top of that, the booksas far as being returned,
(04:21):
there's no guarantee that thebooks returned are going to be
in a condition that could beresold, so typically what they
do is they say destroy the booksand don't send them back
because you would also have topay the return shipping.
It basically makes it nearlyimpossible for a small publisher
, a self-publisher, to try toput physical copies of books in
(04:44):
a bookstore.
Consequently, because theprofits are so minimal for a
publisher, what happens here isthe rights of the book owned by
the publisher.
The author, by the time he getshis cut again, pennies.
The author is not the only onegetting paid.
The literary agent will take acut as well.
(05:05):
So those are disadvantages ofgoing to a traditional publisher
, unless you are a celebrity andyou have a big name and a
publisher can capitalize on yourname and they will give you an
advance.
I mean there are cases of somecelebrities that get an advance
of a million dollars for a book.
It's not common but it canhappen.
(05:27):
But in most cases, if it'ssomebody small like Rick Prado,
they're not going to give them abig chunk of money.
They're basically getting theirbook published and they're
going to receive very littlefrom it and they're limited on
what they can do with the book.
And they're limited on whatthey can do with the book.
Now the hybrid publishing model.
I will say very little about it, other than be very careful,
(05:49):
should you ever entertain usinga hybrid publisher.
They are notorious forovercharging and underdelivering
Overcharging you thousands ofdollars and underdelivering
quality.
And that's where you have toensure that, if you go with a
hybrid publisher, that you'regoing to get your money's worth
of services and hold themaccountable.
(06:10):
In fact, the truth is, yourbest bet is skip the hybrid
publishing model and doself-published.
With self-publishing, you willretain the rights to your book
and you won't run into anyissues where a hybrid publisher
can claim that they own therights when they may not.
You can find yourself in verydifficult situations with a
hybrid publisher that are bestavoided by just doing
(06:33):
self-published.
And in today's world,self-published is actually very
easy, but the pitfalls to it isyou do not want to cut corners.
To publish a book, you have tofollow the industry standards
and protocols to deliver a finalmanuscript of excellence so you
can produce a pristine,polished product that meets
(06:55):
industry standards.
And what I mean by industrystandards is that it's
professionally done,professionally edited,
professionally.
Copy edited professionally,proofread, professionally done
from cover to cover, every partof the book, literally reviewed,
rewritten, polished andformatted to ensure that it
(07:20):
looks like a professionallypublished book, like any
traditional publisher.
Again, in today's world, it'svery easy.
Readsee provides wonderfulservices with proofreaders, copy
editors, marketing specialists,cover makers, graphic artists
and so forth.
And there are other venues outthere as well Upwork, you also
(07:43):
have Fiverr but I highlyrecommend Readsy.
Readsy is made up mostly ofprofessional book publishing
experts who have been in theindustry for decades at times
and they do this as a side job.
In fact, that's where I foundmy help.
I had an award-winning covergraphic artist do the cover for
(08:07):
my book.
I had a professional copyeditor with decades of
experience doing similar booksto do my book and the same with
the proofreader.
I left no stone unturned toensure that the book was
professionally done to deliver aquality product.
Now the narrative and format ofmy book is actually very similar
to Black Ops the Life of a CIAShadow Warrior.
(08:29):
I followed a chronological,linear storyline for a
particular reason making iteasier for the reader to
understand exactly what wasgoing on, building from
experience to experience thedevelopment of the characters.
Characters reappear here andthere in the book.
It would have been extremelydifficult to start the book at a
(08:54):
future point of reference andthen go back in time, as some
books do.
It's possible, but it wouldhave made it more complex and
perhaps convoluted, moredifficult for the reader to
grasp.
At the same time, because themain emphasis is the broken
whistle, the whistleblowerprocess I needed to ensure that
(09:14):
the reader would understand that, by the time that I got to an
incident where the whistle wasblown, that I did not have a
performance problem, I did nothave a character problem, I did
not have a communication problem, but that my bona fides were
established.
So they can see that in realitywe were having a systemic issue
or a problem of individualstargeting me.
(09:37):
Consequently, I start out withmy beginnings in Miami, chapter
2 and Chapter 3.
I immediately get into thefoundations of my Cuban legacy
titling Chapter 2, chapter 3.
I am merely getting to thefoundations of my Cuban legacy
titling chapter 2, cuban Legacygrowing up in Miami, 1960s to
1980s, and I use a quote toreinforce it.
The quote is the Cuban peoplehave an amazingly strong and
(09:58):
unbroken spirit by Wim Wenders.
This chapter goes into thefoundations of my character,
growing up in a traditionalCuban household of hard-working
people with integrity, honor andrespect, where I lead into the
next chapter describing my workhistory in Miami, 1980s to 2000.
I spent literally 14 yearsworking in the Miami business
(10:21):
world, where I titled thischapter Integrity.
Working in the Miami businessworld.
Where I titled this chapterIntegrity, honor and Respect.
Working in Miami 1980s to 2000.
There are some critical aspectsthat are addressed in this
chapter and again I must say,everything was written for a
specific reason.
It helps the reader tounderstand when I was coming
from by the time I blew thewhistle.
Particularly this is what Iwrote Speaking truth to power
(10:44):
and clients was crucial and yourintegrity had to be rock solid
to survive in this cutthroatindustry.
No-transcript, a lack ofintegrity was a surefire way to
ruin your career.
In the end, business was allabout teamwork and collaboration
.
No matter how different we werefrom one another, we learned
(11:05):
how to work together despite ourdifferences.
Finally, in Chapter 4 is wherewe get into when I first began
working for the CIA, where Ititled this chapter Cool your
Jets, welcome to the CIA.
And I use a quote from WilliamJ Donovan, the founder of the
Office of Strategic Services toprecursor to the CIA.
And I use a quote from WilliamJ Donovan, the founder of the
Office of Strategic Services toprecursor to the CIA and he said
I want the OSS to recruit youngmen of discipline, daring, who
(11:29):
are calculatedly daring.
Moving on from there, chapters 5and 6 are my time in Iraq,
where I spent literally twoyears working in Iraq in July
2004 through the end of August2006.
Critical time periods in thecountry, doing significant work,
(11:50):
with significant accolades,with awards left and right.
I believe it was fiveexceptional performance awards I
received.
I had a high-level positionworking with the senior
leadership of the CIA station inBaghdad, with senior military
officers such as, at the time,colonel Flynn, who became Major
General Flynn, a very famousgeneral.
(12:11):
I'm sure you all know about him.
I had the pleasure of workingwith him and I can attest to his
character and his honor and hisintegrity.
Him, and I can attest to hischaracter and his honor and his
integrity.
From then on I do a chapter.
Chapter seven, back to thebureaucracy at CIA headquarters.
This is an extremely importantchapter.
I mean it was a bureaucracy atits worst, some language that
(12:33):
basically didn't make the book,or maybe it's in there, I don't
remember right now if it's at.
It would have been moreproductive to put a potted plant
to change the putrid air in thebasement where I was working
into oxygen than having, in somecases, some people working in
those desks.
I'll just leave it there.
It can be a little bitentertaining reading that
(12:55):
chapter and I must say, up tothis point, the redactions in
the book are very minimal andI'll discuss redactions because,
on that note the next chapters.
We're dealing with chapters 8,9, 10, and 11.
And these are particularly veryinteresting.
(13:16):
These chapters cover a time ofmy career at the CIA where I
worked overseas in a stationthat I named Patinkin station
for a reason and in a countrythat I had to name Carminia for
a reason.
I had to protect CIA sourcesand methods, identities and
(13:37):
partly to be able to have a flowto the narrative Rather than
have more sections blacked out.
The fictitious names helped toat least have some continuity in
the narrative.
However, there were still somesignificant redactions within
these chapters and I canunderstand why the CIA redacted
the information.
(13:57):
I mean we're dealing withforeign relations.
However, some of it is actuallymore of an embarrassment to
them and I had a choice to makeDo I contest the redactions or
not?
After consulting with others whohad written books, it was best
not to contest the redactionsand not to rewrite the narrative
(14:17):
, to try to take out all theredactions.
And let me explain Again as Istated earlier in the previous
broadcast, because of anon-disclosure agreement and
secrecy agreement, in order topublish a book, the book has to
be reviewed, embedded by the CIAPre-Publication Review Board,
and only with their approvalcould I possibly publish a book.
(14:41):
My approach to writing thisbook in a linear, progressive
method, showing that I had nocharacter issues, that I had no
communication issues, provenperformance prior to the CIA and
in the CIA with materials thatthey needed to redact, actually
led to what I would consider tobe an expedited review.
(15:01):
It actually took them ten and ahalf weeks to get back to me
and tell me that, as long as Itook out the language they did
not want me to publish, that Ican go ahead and publish the
book.
So I had an approval to publish.
I would have been an idiot notto publish the book the way it
was and this is why I could havecontested.
(15:23):
But if you contest theredactions, it gets kicked back
to them.
Now they can hold on to it aslong as they want to hold on to
it, to either stall it or stopit, and that's a risk that was
not worth taking.
At the same time, if I wouldhave chosen to rewrite things
(15:44):
now, I would have had to kickthe book back to them for a
second review, and again, theycan hold on to it as long as
they want to.
Particularly in this case, itwould have potentially derailed
the publication in a way thatcould have severely damaged the
book from moving forward.
There are many cases of booksthat get tied up and you end up
(16:07):
having to get a lawyer, get intolitigation, spend thousands, if
not tens of thousands ofdollars and you're still delayed
by a year or two or three to beable to get a book out.
It only took me 10 and a halfweeks.
And now, as far as theredactions, I mean, if you
compare them with what isobserved in Black Ops, they're
(16:28):
very comparable.
I mean, I have essentiallylight redactions, except for
those in what is known asCarminia and Potemkin Station.
For the critics who says Ishould have rewrote it or it
never should have been publishedwith redactions, that's
actually an ignorant statement,because there are many
(16:49):
intelligence-related memoirs orbooks that are published with
redactions, and it adds also anelement of mystique and suspense
to it, which adds a little bitof credibility to it, because, I
mean, the CIA reviewed it andthey chose to withheld some
material and they have everyright to do so and again it was
the best way to proceed.
(17:10):
Now I don't want to get intotoo many details, but in those
chapters for Potemkin Station,carminia, this is where I ran
into a situation where Iaccidentally became a
whistleblower on some equalemployment opportunity issues
that managers came out againstme.
Without getting into all thedetails, they're in the book.
But again, here's where I haveto be very clear and articulate.
(17:33):
There is a reason for the depthof detail and the minutest
details that are covered in thisbook as far as what I witnessed
firsthand are critical in orderto be able to make an argument
that indeed the ability to blowthe whistle is broken.
It would be of no value for meto have written a book that did
(17:55):
not have all these details andclaim that there is a problem if
I don't show you the problemthrough examples of instances
that I observed firsthand orwhat people said or did, as I
basically chronicle in my memoir.
And all these details matter.
You cannot ignore the chaptertitle names of the quotes.
(18:16):
I mean, for example, chapters11 and 12, the war within round
one, the war within round two,respectively.
And for chapter 11, I use avery colorful quote.
Here we have met the enemy inhe and us, and that is from Walt
Kelly Pogo comic stripobserving the inaugural Earth
Day, april 22, 1970.
(18:37):
The enemy within was a certainproblem in that station.
By the time I get out ofCarminia I'm looking at nine
years plus working for the CIA,having done two years in Iraq,
two years in this semi-war zonein Carminia.
I mean by this time my body haspaid a significant price.
I mean that's one of the themesin this book the price we pay
(19:01):
for working overseas.
Our health takes a toll, oursouls take a toll, our families
take a toll, there aresignificant sacrifices,
separation from family, you knowyour body gets beat up and so
forth, and these are detailed inthe book because you know I
give the CIA credit when itneeds to be given credit and at
(19:21):
the same time I want to makesure that people realize that
you do have good officers at theCIA who make significant
contributions to nationalsecurity and they make
significant sacrifices and theyshould get credit and
unfortunately they do not.
Most of the time you only hearabout the bad ones, and these
bad ones are the ones thatcaused all the bad reputation.
(19:42):
That shouldn't be so.
Post-carmenia, it was one yearof Afghanistan, and then
followed by chapters 14, 15, and16.
Back at CIA headquarters,working for the Information
Operations Center, now theDirector of Digital Innovation,
the Center for Cyber Securityand Intelligence.
In this capacity I did somesignificant work with, again,
(20:07):
deployments to the field, to warzones, earning exceptional
performance awards, earningnominations for collaboration,
collaborative efforts within theCIA and outside the CIA, which
set me up for my deployment toAfghanistan.
By this time I had had eightexceptional performance awards,
(20:31):
significant contributions to USnational security.
My performance reviewsthroughout my CIA career absent
one performance appraisal thatwas just absolutely just
atrocious, because the managerswere out to get me were all
excellent, with superiorperformance.
Other than that, I had noperformance issues.
(20:53):
I never had a security problem,always basically a good co
worker.
I had no problems working withother employees.
So off I go to afghanistanchronicled in chapter 17 into
the lion's den, afghanistan, andthat's where all hell broke
loose for me.
Now an important point I mustmake in chapters 12, 13, 14, 15
(21:17):
and 16, there are quite a bit ofdetails or tidbits as far as
the broken equal employmentopportunity processes at the CIA
, as I detailed in chapter 12,when I was forced to use this
process and actually I did soupon the recommendation of a
senior executive to the CIA whotold me you have an EEO issue.
(21:38):
What they're doing against youis wrong.
You should contact EEO.
So I did.
It turns out that EEO was morelike a criminal conspiracy to
come in and clean up theincident and cover it all up.
It's all detailed in the book.
I leave no stone unturned, fullydocumented, and by the time I'm
(21:59):
headed out to Afghanistan.
I actually reached out to theCIA Office of Inspector General
for the Intelligence Communityand wanted to turn in a box with
all the details showingindisputable proof that the EO
office was broken beyond repair.
Broken beyond repair, basicallydefrauding the complainants of
(22:22):
their civil rights.
And the CIA Office of InspectorGeneral of Intelligence had no
interest in looking into thisissue, none whatsoever.
In fact, they got mad at mebecause I had the audacity to
provide proof to them that thisoffice was broken and they
basically said no, you can keepthe box, you can keep the
evidence, you can keep theevidence, do whatever you want
(22:42):
with it and good luck with yourtour in Afghanistan.
So, yes, off I go toAfghanistan, literally into the
lion's den.
Little did I know what I wasgetting into.
Now, keep in mind, by the time Igot out there I had already had
14 plus years of working at theCIA, six plus years working in
(23:02):
war zones.
I was trained as far as what todo, what not to do, in a war
zone.
I worked with significantsenior leaders who would become
directors of significantdepartments, significant
departments I'm talking about,like the director of the
counterterrorism center, thedirector of divisions for the
(23:23):
directorate of operations and soforth.
On top of that, in order tobecome a deputy chief of base, a
chief of base, a chief ofstation, a deputy chief of
station, you get significanttraining and you go through a
vetting process by thesedirectorate of operations
leadership level personnel fromthe respective divisions.
(23:43):
One of the seminars I attendedwas very detailed and specific
as far as what to do, what notto do, on personnel matters, on
interagency, collaboration on,you know, basically ensuring the
safety of personnel, thepsychological well-being of
officers, and on and on.
(24:04):
The list goes on.
And as far as the leaders thatcame in.
We're talking about theinspector general himself, the
director of CIA himself, thedeputy director of CIA himself.
So we were very well advised ofwhat was expected of us as a
chief of base, a deputy chief ofbase, a chief of station or a
deputy chief of station.
(24:25):
Add to that what is known asthe Senior Leadership Review
Advisory Board, where theleaders for the respective
division would meet with eachofficer and again tell them what
they expected of them.
I detailed it in the book andit's all in there in chapter 16.
Well, if you want the detailsas far as what happened, in a
(24:48):
nutshell, I had a chief of basethat should never have been
there.
That is the truth Causedharassment of personnel,
endangered our lives and I wasput in a situation where I had
to speak truth to power, speakup about the endangerment of our
lives and, at the same time, toprotect a harassed individual,
(25:10):
a subordinate of ours.
But ultimately, the end resultwas again, they wanted to cover
it up at my expense.
So I got sent home, and that'swhere we get into chapters 18,
19, 20, 21, and 22, where Idetail first what was known to
me as the pit of hell,essentially what I ran into.
And then a fight with the devilround one, a fight with the
(25:33):
devil round two, a fight withthe devil round three ultimately
what I call wrestling with thekangaroos.
And at the end of the day, whathappened here was just a
complete cover-up by the entireCIA bureaucracy.
I'm talking about the entirebureaucracy.
Equal employment opportunitywas a problem.
They basically did not want toaddress two EEO issues the
(25:57):
Office of Inspector General forthe CIA in this particular case.
They wanted to kill the case aswell.
They didn't even want to lookat it.
They basically wanted to puntit to EEO, but EEO tried to kill
it and EEO essentially killedit.
And then, when, eventually,when the CIA looked at it, they
actually did an improperinvestigation.
Not even an investigationreally.
(26:17):
It was an investigation withpredetermined outcome, and the
details are in the book.
It's very clear and veryobvious to whoever wants to read
it.
And I end the book with chapter23, still standing strong,
fighting tyranny, and theepilogue who will speak for you
when they come looking for you?
Because there are some criticalmessages in here.
And the bottom line is who willspeak for you when they come
(26:40):
looking for you?
That is going to be determinedupon who you spoke up for, when
you had an opportunity to speakup, for somebody who was being
harassed, who was being targeted, who was a victim of weaponized
government power or any type ofinjustice.
If we collectively keep silent,we empower the abusers to
(27:00):
proceed with more abuses ofpower.
I want to read part of theclosing parts of the epilogue
Post-Nazi Germany.
In 1946, german Lutheran pastorand theologian Martin Neumüller
uttered words in a speech thathave reverberated around the
world.
He lived before, during andafter the Nazi German regime,
witnessing the evils of the riseand reign of Hitler and Nazism.
(27:22):
His remarkable words returninto the following poem First
they came for the communists andI did not speak out because I
was not a communist.
Then they came for thesocialists and I did not speak
out because I was not acommunist.
Then they came for thesocialist and I did not speak
out because I was not asocialist.
Then they came for the tradeunionist and I did not speak out
because I was not a tradeunionist.
(27:42):
Then they came for the Jews andI did not speak out because I
was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and therewas no one left to speak out
for me, and in the epilogue Ihave a quote the malice of the
wicked was reinforced by theweakness of the virtuous, and
that is the problem and one ofthe main themes of this book.
Many themes, there are manythemes in this book.
(28:03):
I must say that you can readthis book multiple times, with a
different perspective, to getdifferent ideas.
One aspect is my own personalstory.
To get different ideas.
One aspect is my own personalstory.
The other aspect is my daughterand my ex-wife, what they went
through.
Another aspect is what it'slike to work inside the CIA, how
(28:24):
the bureaucracy functions anddoesn't function.
Tidbits as far as what it waslike to work in Iraq and
Afghanistan, what worked, whatdidn't work, what went wrong.
There's aspects of what it waslike to work in a station of
excellence at CIA and what itwas like to work at a station of
clowns, which is basically whatPotemkin Station is best
described as, since I had nochoice but to use some colorful
(28:47):
terms for that station and forsome of the cast of characters,
like you hear about Moe, larryand Curly and Napoleon, and
there's reasons why I use thesecolorful names.
There's also the bureaucraticperspectives as far as what
works and doesn't work in UnitedStates government bureaucracies
.
You see bureaucracy at itsfinest and at its worst in this
(29:10):
book.
Then you have the explicit,detailed inner workings of you
know the conspiracy to obstructcivil right EEO processes and
you know to defraudwhistleblowers of the reprisal
protections.
That is all meticulouslycovered.
It is covered basically blow byblow.
Yeah, some people havecomplained about you know this
(29:32):
email, that email or this personor that person, but it's all in
there because it's a legalmatter.
Whistleblowing is a legalmatter and you have to get into
the minutest details.
It's like an inquisition todetermine whether or not there
was a reprisal taken and theonly way that you can affirm
whether one was taken or not isto look at all the details of
(29:56):
the matter.
And last but not least, shall wesay, is the lack of the
so-called righteous to act andtake action.
You see it in the book where,time and time, I reached out to
certain leaders within theintelligence community the CIA,
the DNI, the inspector generalsin Congress and nobody rose up
(30:17):
to help.
It was as if they wanted toallow the CIA to take the
reprisals against me, allow themto fire me and for that matter,
here I am today still without.
The reality is the firstreprisal allegations were never
correctly or fully investigatedand, on top of that, the second
wave of reprisals were neverinvestigated.
(30:39):
But you know, here we are goingseven, eight, nine, ten years
and still no resolution.
And sadly, I find myself in aposition that nobody has arisen
to help has arisen to help, andI will end this broadcast by
also stating that you know, wehad significant change in
presidential administrations in2017.
(31:00):
You would think that in theTrump administration in 2017, I
would finally see justice.
Well, I did not.
Pompeo and Coates missing inaction.
Pompeo and Coates missing inaction.
Basically, you know, pompeo,through his number three bullet
towel, basically allowed the CIAto do as they pleased.
(31:21):
When I reached out to them, Ibasically got back a cut and
paste email with language thatwas put together obviously and
very clearly by the Office ofGeneral Counsel and, potentially
, the Inspector General.
Basically, they washed theirhands like Pontius Pilate and
said let the IG do what theywant to do, and at that time,
the CIA IG was compromised andthose details are covered in the
(31:44):
book.
Meanwhile, congress, missing inaction, doing absolutely
nothing.
For me, and even worse, in myopinion, is how, as an
evangelical, as a licensedminister at the time, having
some significant connections, Ireached out to multiple
evangelical leaders with accessto Trump and not a single one of
(32:06):
them was willing to help.
Now, the beat up individualgoing down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, beat up by robbers,thrown on the road and you know,
the priest, the Levite, thescribes, just walking on by the
side of the road, no, no helpwhatsoever.
(32:27):
And eventually a Samaritanshowed up, and the reality is
that in this journey, I've had afew Samaritans show up, but my
own kind, my own people inevangelical circles.
To this day, despite the factthat some of them have
significant influence, I haveyet to have one of them reach
out and try to help to see to itthat these issues are resolved,
(32:49):
which goes back to my closingepilogue who will speak for you
when they come looking for you?
What we have seen in thiscountry since 2017 has been an
explosion of weaponizedgovernment power, and the reason
why it is happening is isbecause men and women in
(33:09):
positions of power have failedto act to counterbalance, to be
light and to stop these forcesof darkness.
And unless we arise and stopthese forces of darkness, it's
going to continue to get worse.
So this book is a clarion callto awaken the so-called
righteous, so that we can stopthis nonsense and push back the
(33:32):
darkness with light.
For this broadcast, I want to continue to build upon
what was discussed in theprevious one on the Broken
Whistle A Deep State Run Amok.
I mentioned that for thisbroadcast I would be going into
the structure of the book, howit was written, and also to
compare some of the most recentintelligence memoirs published
by other authors.
Let's begin by looking at themost recent intelligence memoir.
(00:22):
This was published in 2022 bySt Martin's Press.
The book is titled Black Opsthe Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior
is the subtitle.
Written by Rick Prado, and it'sgot a tagline CIA
Counterterrorist Chief ofOperations Retired.
I highly recommend this book andI encourage you to go out and
(00:42):
buy it.
It is a very intense read asfar as the career of a true
patriot and a hero who spentmany years working in the front
lines of the war againstterrorism.
His book is about 400 pageslong and it follows a very
linear, progressive timeline,building upon his career, his
(01:04):
life, so that the reader looksat his entire life, from
beginning to end of.
You know his foundations, howhe grew up, what motivated him
to serve, how he started out theCIA, the downs and ups of
service in the CIA, workingoverseas, working at CIA
headquarters and so forth.
(01:25):
It's a very well balanced bookand it's written in first person
.
He's the main character andconsequently there's a lot of
I's, my I, so forth.
Now his book was againpublished by a major publisher.
Let's talk about the publishingprocess.
There are three ways to publisha book.
(01:45):
You can get a mainlinetraditional publisher to pick up
the book.
You can do what's known ashybrid, where you're paying a
publisher to basically help youto put the book together and to
put the book in distribution.
Or you can go theself-publishing route.
With each of these processesthere are advantages and
(02:06):
disadvantages.
The traditional publishinggives you the recognition of
having a publisher pick up yourbook, but there's a lot that
goes behind it and there areconsequences with such an action
.
To have a book picked up by atraditional publisher, typically
you have to propose amanuscript or a book, a title
(02:29):
and the content.
In your work.
You have to hire a literaryagent and the literary agent
will basically shop the ideaaround with traditional
publishers and hopefully atraditional publisher picks it
up.
And if a traditional publisherpicks it up, obviously you've
got some kind of agreement andin that agreement what happens
(02:49):
is the rights of the book arepredominantly owned by the
traditional publisher.
So the writer of the book haslimitations what he can do with
his own book.
Those limitations can stop youfrom doing movies, potentially
writing or translating the bookyourself, or doing something to
(03:10):
republish the book or having apublication where you can
generate more income from it.
Traditional publishing basicallyyields you a gain of pennies
for each book sold, and thereare reasons for that.
Specifically, a traditionalpublished book that's going to
(03:34):
get out into a bookstore.
In order to get a book into abookstore, it's also a process.
You are literally giving thebook away and you're almost
putting the book on loan orcollateral.
You have to provide what'sknown as a wholesale discount to
the booksellers and theyrequire anywhere from 52% to 55%
minimum and on top of that youhave to make the book returnable
(03:57):
at the wholesale value, whichmeans the wholesaler let's say
Barnes Noble if they want toreturn all the books, they can
return all the books and thepublisher has to pay the
bookseller the wholesale priceof the book.
Now, on top of that, the booksas far as being returned,
(04:21):
there's no guarantee that thebooks returned are going to be
in a condition that could beresold, so typically what they
do is they say destroy the booksand don't send them back
because you would also have topay the return shipping.
It basically makes it nearlyimpossible for a small publisher
, a self-publisher, to try toput physical copies of books in
(04:44):
a bookstore.
Consequently, because theprofits are so minimal for a
publisher, what happens here isthe rights of the book owned by
the publisher.
The author, by the time he getshis cut again, pennies.
The author is not the only onegetting paid.
The literary agent will take acut as well.
(05:05):
So those are disadvantages ofgoing to a traditional publisher
, unless you are a celebrity andyou have a big name and a
publisher can capitalize on yourname and they will give you an
advance.
I mean there are cases of somecelebrities that get an advance
of a million dollars for a book.
It's not common but it canhappen.
(05:27):
But in most cases, if it'ssomebody small like Rick Prado,
they're not going to give them abig chunk of money.
They're basically getting theirbook published and they're
going to receive very littlefrom it and they're limited on
what they can do with the book.
And they're limited on whatthey can do with the book.
Now the hybrid publishing model.
I will say very little about it, other than be very careful,
(05:49):
should you ever entertain usinga hybrid publisher.
They are notorious forovercharging and underdelivering
Overcharging you thousands ofdollars and underdelivering
quality.
And that's where you have toensure that, if you go with a
hybrid publisher, that you'regoing to get your money's worth
of services and hold themaccountable.
(06:10):
In fact, the truth is, yourbest bet is skip the hybrid
publishing model and doself-published.
With self-publishing, you willretain the rights to your book
and you won't run into anyissues where a hybrid publisher
can claim that they own therights when they may not.
You can find yourself in verydifficult situations with a
hybrid publisher that are bestavoided by just doing
(06:33):
self-published.
And in today's world,self-published is actually very
easy, but the pitfalls to it isyou do not want to cut corners.
To publish a book, you have tofollow the industry standards
and protocols to deliver a finalmanuscript of excellence so you
can produce a pristine,polished product that meets
(06:55):
industry standards.
And what I mean by industrystandards is that it's
professionally done,professionally edited,
professionally.
Copy edited professionally,proofread, professionally done
from cover to cover, every partof the book, literally reviewed,
rewritten, polished andformatted to ensure that it
(07:20):
looks like a professionallypublished book, like any
traditional publisher.
Again, in today's world, it'svery easy.
Readsee provides wonderfulservices with proofreaders, copy
editors, marketing specialists,cover makers, graphic artists
and so forth.
And there are other venues outthere as well Upwork, you also
(07:43):
have Fiverr but I highlyrecommend Readsy.
Readsy is made up mostly ofprofessional book publishing
experts who have been in theindustry for decades at times
and they do this as a side job.
In fact, that's where I foundmy help.
I had an award-winning covergraphic artist do the cover for
(08:07):
my book.
I had a professional copyeditor with decades of
experience doing similar booksto do my book and the same with
the proofreader.
I left no stone unturned toensure that the book was
professionally done to deliver aquality product.
Now the narrative and format ofmy book is actually very similar
to Black Ops the Life of a CIAShadow Warrior.
(08:29):
I followed a chronological,linear storyline for a
particular reason making iteasier for the reader to
understand exactly what wasgoing on, building from
experience to experience thedevelopment of the characters.
Characters reappear here andthere in the book.
It would have been extremelydifficult to start the book at a
(08:54):
future point of reference andthen go back in time, as some
books do.
It's possible, but it wouldhave made it more complex and
perhaps convoluted, moredifficult for the reader to
grasp.
At the same time, because themain emphasis is the broken
whistle, the whistleblowerprocess I needed to ensure that
(09:14):
the reader would understand that, by the time that I got to an
incident where the whistle wasblown, that I did not have a
performance problem, I did nothave a character problem, I did
not have a communication problem, but that my bona fides were
established.
So they can see that in realitywe were having a systemic issue
or a problem of individualstargeting me.
(09:37):
Consequently, I start out withmy beginnings in Miami, chapter
2 and Chapter 3.
I immediately get into thefoundations of my Cuban legacy
titling Chapter 2, chapter 3.
I am merely getting to thefoundations of my Cuban legacy
titling chapter 2, cuban Legacygrowing up in Miami, 1960s to
1980s, and I use a quote toreinforce it.
The quote is the Cuban peoplehave an amazingly strong and
(09:58):
unbroken spirit by Wim Wenders.
This chapter goes into thefoundations of my character,
growing up in a traditionalCuban household of hard-working
people with integrity, honor andrespect, where I lead into the
next chapter describing my workhistory in Miami, 1980s to 2000.
I spent literally 14 yearsworking in the Miami business
(10:21):
world, where I titled thischapter Integrity.
Working in the Miami businessworld.
Where I titled this chapterIntegrity, honor and Respect.
Working in Miami 1980s to 2000.
There are some critical aspectsthat are addressed in this
chapter and again I must say,everything was written for a
specific reason.
It helps the reader tounderstand when I was coming
from by the time I blew thewhistle.
Particularly this is what Iwrote Speaking truth to power
(10:44):
and clients was crucial and yourintegrity had to be rock solid
to survive in this cutthroatindustry.
No-transcript, a lack ofintegrity was a surefire way to
ruin your career.
In the end, business was allabout teamwork and collaboration
.
No matter how different we werefrom one another, we learned
(11:05):
how to work together despite ourdifferences.
Finally, in Chapter 4 is wherewe get into when I first began
working for the CIA, where Ititled this chapter Cool your
Jets, welcome to the CIA.
And I use a quote from WilliamJ Donovan, the founder of the
Office of Strategic Services toprecursor to the CIA.
And I use a quote from WilliamJ Donovan, the founder of the
Office of Strategic Services toprecursor to the CIA and he said
I want the OSS to recruit youngmen of discipline, daring, who
(11:29):
are calculatedly daring.
Moving on from there, chapters 5and 6 are my time in Iraq,
where I spent literally twoyears working in Iraq in July
2004 through the end of August2006.
Critical time periods in thecountry, doing significant work,
(11:50):
with significant accolades,with awards left and right.
I believe it was fiveexceptional performance awards I
received.
I had a high-level positionworking with the senior
leadership of the CIA station inBaghdad, with senior military
officers such as, at the time,colonel Flynn, who became Major
General Flynn, a very famousgeneral.
(12:11):
I'm sure you all know about him.
I had the pleasure of workingwith him and I can attest to his
character and his honor and hisintegrity.
Him, and I can attest to hischaracter and his honor and his
integrity.
From then on I do a chapter.
Chapter seven, back to thebureaucracy at CIA headquarters.
This is an extremely importantchapter.
I mean it was a bureaucracy atits worst, some language that
(12:33):
basically didn't make the book,or maybe it's in there, I don't
remember right now if it's at.
It would have been moreproductive to put a potted plant
to change the putrid air in thebasement where I was working
into oxygen than having, in somecases, some people working in
those desks.
I'll just leave it there.
It can be a little bitentertaining reading that
(12:55):
chapter and I must say, up tothis point, the redactions in
the book are very minimal andI'll discuss redactions because,
on that note the next chapters.
We're dealing with chapters 8,9, 10, and 11.
And these are particularly veryinteresting.
(13:16):
These chapters cover a time ofmy career at the CIA where I
worked overseas in a stationthat I named Patinkin station
for a reason and in a countrythat I had to name Carminia for
a reason.
I had to protect CIA sourcesand methods, identities and
(13:37):
partly to be able to have a flowto the narrative Rather than
have more sections blacked out.
The fictitious names helped toat least have some continuity in
the narrative.
However, there were still somesignificant redactions within
these chapters and I canunderstand why the CIA redacted
the information.
(13:57):
I mean we're dealing withforeign relations.
However, some of it is actuallymore of an embarrassment to
them and I had a choice to makeDo I contest the redactions or
not?
After consulting with others whohad written books, it was best
not to contest the redactionsand not to rewrite the narrative
(14:17):
, to try to take out all theredactions.
And let me explain Again as Istated earlier in the previous
broadcast, because of anon-disclosure agreement and
secrecy agreement, in order topublish a book, the book has to
be reviewed, embedded by the CIAPre-Publication Review Board,
and only with their approvalcould I possibly publish a book.
(14:41):
My approach to writing thisbook in a linear, progressive
method, showing that I had nocharacter issues, that I had no
communication issues, provenperformance prior to the CIA and
in the CIA with materials thatthey needed to redact, actually
led to what I would consider tobe an expedited review.
(15:01):
It actually took them ten and ahalf weeks to get back to me
and tell me that, as long as Itook out the language they did
not want me to publish, that Ican go ahead and publish the
book.
So I had an approval to publish.
I would have been an idiot notto publish the book the way it
was and this is why I could havecontested.
(15:23):
But if you contest theredactions, it gets kicked back
to them.
Now they can hold on to it aslong as they want to hold on to
it, to either stall it or stopit, and that's a risk that was
not worth taking.
At the same time, if I wouldhave chosen to rewrite things
(15:44):
now, I would have had to kickthe book back to them for a
second review, and again, theycan hold on to it as long as
they want to.
Particularly in this case, itwould have potentially derailed
the publication in a way thatcould have severely damaged the
book from moving forward.
There are many cases of booksthat get tied up and you end up
(16:07):
having to get a lawyer, get intolitigation, spend thousands, if
not tens of thousands ofdollars and you're still delayed
by a year or two or three to beable to get a book out.
It only took me 10 and a halfweeks.
And now, as far as theredactions, I mean, if you
compare them with what isobserved in Black Ops, they're
(16:28):
very comparable.
I mean, I have essentiallylight redactions, except for
those in what is known asCarminia and Potemkin Station.
For the critics who says Ishould have rewrote it or it
never should have been publishedwith redactions, that's
actually an ignorant statement,because there are many
(16:49):
intelligence-related memoirs orbooks that are published with
redactions, and it adds also anelement of mystique and suspense
to it, which adds a little bitof credibility to it, because, I
mean, the CIA reviewed it andthey chose to withheld some
material and they have everyright to do so and again it was
the best way to proceed.
(17:10):
Now I don't want to get intotoo many details, but in those
chapters for Potemkin Station,carminia, this is where I ran
into a situation where Iaccidentally became a
whistleblower on some equalemployment opportunity issues
that managers came out againstme.
Without getting into all thedetails, they're in the book.
But again, here's where I haveto be very clear and articulate.
(17:33):
There is a reason for the depthof detail and the minutest
details that are covered in thisbook as far as what I witnessed
firsthand are critical in orderto be able to make an argument
that indeed the ability to blowthe whistle is broken.
It would be of no value for meto have written a book that did
(17:55):
not have all these details andclaim that there is a problem if
I don't show you the problemthrough examples of instances
that I observed firsthand orwhat people said or did, as I
basically chronicle in my memoir.
And all these details matter.
You cannot ignore the chaptertitle names of the quotes.
(18:16):
I mean, for example, chapters11 and 12, the war within round
one, the war within round two,respectively.
And for chapter 11, I use avery colorful quote.
Here we have met the enemy inhe and us, and that is from Walt
Kelly Pogo comic stripobserving the inaugural Earth
Day, april 22, 1970.
(18:37):
The enemy within was a certainproblem in that station.
By the time I get out ofCarminia I'm looking at nine
years plus working for the CIA,having done two years in Iraq,
two years in this semi-war zonein Carminia.
I mean by this time my body haspaid a significant price.
I mean that's one of the themesin this book the price we pay
(19:01):
for working overseas.
Our health takes a toll, oursouls take a toll, our families
take a toll, there aresignificant sacrifices,
separation from family, you knowyour body gets beat up and so
forth, and these are detailed inthe book because you know I
give the CIA credit when itneeds to be given credit and at
(19:21):
the same time I want to makesure that people realize that
you do have good officers at theCIA who make significant
contributions to nationalsecurity and they make
significant sacrifices and theyshould get credit and
unfortunately they do not.
Most of the time you only hearabout the bad ones, and these
bad ones are the ones thatcaused all the bad reputation.
(19:42):
That shouldn't be so.
Post-carmenia, it was one yearof Afghanistan, and then
followed by chapters 14, 15, and16.
Back at CIA headquarters,working for the Information
Operations Center, now theDirector of Digital Innovation,
the Center for Cyber Securityand Intelligence.
In this capacity I did somesignificant work with, again,
(20:07):
deployments to the field, to warzones, earning exceptional
performance awards, earningnominations for collaboration,
collaborative efforts within theCIA and outside the CIA, which
set me up for my deployment toAfghanistan.
By this time I had had eightexceptional performance awards,
(20:31):
significant contributions to USnational security.
My performance reviewsthroughout my CIA career absent
one performance appraisal thatwas just absolutely just
atrocious, because the managerswere out to get me were all
excellent, with superiorperformance.
Other than that, I had noperformance issues.
(20:53):
I never had a security problem,always basically a good co
worker.
I had no problems working withother employees.
So off I go to afghanistanchronicled in chapter 17 into
the lion's den, afghanistan, andthat's where all hell broke
loose for me.
Now an important point I mustmake in chapters 12, 13, 14, 15
(21:17):
and 16, there are quite a bit ofdetails or tidbits as far as
the broken equal employmentopportunity processes at the CIA
, as I detailed in chapter 12,when I was forced to use this
process and actually I did soupon the recommendation of a
senior executive to the CIA whotold me you have an EEO issue.
(21:38):
What they're doing against youis wrong.
You should contact EEO.
So I did.
It turns out that EEO was morelike a criminal conspiracy to
come in and clean up theincident and cover it all up.
It's all detailed in the book.
I leave no stone unturned, fullydocumented, and by the time I'm
(21:59):
headed out to Afghanistan.
I actually reached out to theCIA Office of Inspector General
for the Intelligence Communityand wanted to turn in a box with
all the details showingindisputable proof that the EO
office was broken beyond repair.
Broken beyond repair, basicallydefrauding the complainants of
(22:22):
their civil rights.
And the CIA Office of InspectorGeneral of Intelligence had no
interest in looking into thisissue, none whatsoever.
In fact, they got mad at mebecause I had the audacity to
provide proof to them that thisoffice was broken and they
basically said no, you can keepthe box, you can keep the
evidence, you can keep theevidence, do whatever you want
(22:42):
with it and good luck with yourtour in Afghanistan.
So, yes, off I go toAfghanistan, literally into the
lion's den.
Little did I know what I wasgetting into.
Now, keep in mind, by the time Igot out there I had already had
14 plus years of working at theCIA, six plus years working in
(23:02):
war zones.
I was trained as far as what todo, what not to do, in a war
zone.
I worked with significantsenior leaders who would become
directors of significantdepartments, significant
departments I'm talking about,like the director of the
counterterrorism center, thedirector of divisions for the
(23:23):
directorate of operations and soforth.
On top of that, in order tobecome a deputy chief of base, a
chief of base, a chief ofstation, a deputy chief of
station, you get significanttraining and you go through a
vetting process by thesedirectorate of operations
leadership level personnel fromthe respective divisions.
(23:43):
One of the seminars I attendedwas very detailed and specific
as far as what to do, what notto do, on personnel matters, on
interagency, collaboration on,you know, basically ensuring the
safety of personnel, thepsychological well-being of
officers, and on and on.
(24:04):
The list goes on.
And as far as the leaders thatcame in.
We're talking about theinspector general himself, the
director of CIA himself, thedeputy director of CIA himself.
So we were very well advised ofwhat was expected of us as a
chief of base, a deputy chief ofbase, a chief of station or a
deputy chief of station.
(24:25):
Add to that what is known asthe Senior Leadership Review
Advisory Board, where theleaders for the respective
division would meet with eachofficer and again tell them what
they expected of them.
I detailed it in the book andit's all in there in chapter 16.
Well, if you want the detailsas far as what happened, in a
(24:48):
nutshell, I had a chief of basethat should never have been
there.
That is the truth Causedharassment of personnel,
endangered our lives and I wasput in a situation where I had
to speak truth to power, speakup about the endangerment of our
lives and, at the same time, toprotect a harassed individual,
(25:10):
a subordinate of ours.
But ultimately, the end resultwas again, they wanted to cover
it up at my expense.
So I got sent home, and that'swhere we get into chapters 18,
19, 20, 21, and 22, where Idetail first what was known to
me as the pit of hell,essentially what I ran into.
And then a fight with the devilround one, a fight with the
(25:33):
devil round two, a fight withthe devil round three ultimately
what I call wrestling with thekangaroos.
And at the end of the day, whathappened here was just a
complete cover-up by the entireCIA bureaucracy.
I'm talking about the entirebureaucracy.
Equal employment opportunitywas a problem.
They basically did not want toaddress two EEO issues the
(25:57):
Office of Inspector General forthe CIA in this particular case.
They wanted to kill the case aswell.
They didn't even want to lookat it.
They basically wanted to puntit to EEO, but EEO tried to kill
it and EEO essentially killedit.
And then, when, eventually,when the CIA looked at it, they
actually did an improperinvestigation.
Not even an investigationreally.
(26:17):
It was an investigation withpredetermined outcome, and the
details are in the book.
It's very clear and veryobvious to whoever wants to read
it.
And I end the book with chapter23, still standing strong,
fighting tyranny, and theepilogue who will speak for you
when they come looking for you?
Because there are some criticalmessages in here.
And the bottom line is who willspeak for you when they come
(26:40):
looking for you?
That is going to be determinedupon who you spoke up for, when
you had an opportunity to speakup, for somebody who was being
harassed, who was being targeted, who was a victim of weaponized
government power or any type ofinjustice.
If we collectively keep silent,we empower the abusers to
(27:00):
proceed with more abuses ofpower.
I want to read part of theclosing parts of the epilogue
Post-Nazi Germany.
In 1946, german Lutheran pastorand theologian Martin Neumüller
uttered words in a speech thathave reverberated around the
world.
He lived before, during andafter the Nazi German regime,
witnessing the evils of the riseand reign of Hitler and Nazism.
(27:22):
His remarkable words returninto the following poem First
they came for the communists andI did not speak out because I
was not a communist.
Then they came for thesocialists and I did not speak
out because I was not acommunist.
Then they came for thesocialist and I did not speak
out because I was not asocialist.
Then they came for the tradeunionist and I did not speak out
because I was not a tradeunionist.
(27:42):
Then they came for the Jews andI did not speak out because I
was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and therewas no one left to speak out
for me, and in the epilogue Ihave a quote the malice of the
wicked was reinforced by theweakness of the virtuous, and
that is the problem and one ofthe main themes of this book.
Many themes, there are manythemes in this book.
(28:03):
I must say that you can readthis book multiple times, with a
different perspective, to getdifferent ideas.
One aspect is my own personalstory.
To get different ideas.
One aspect is my own personalstory.
The other aspect is my daughterand my ex-wife, what they went
through.
Another aspect is what it'slike to work inside the CIA, how
(28:24):
the bureaucracy functions anddoesn't function.
Tidbits as far as what it waslike to work in Iraq and
Afghanistan, what worked, whatdidn't work, what went wrong.
There's aspects of what it waslike to work in a station of
excellence at CIA and what itwas like to work at a station of
clowns, which is basically whatPotemkin Station is best
described as, since I had nochoice but to use some colorful
(28:47):
terms for that station and forsome of the cast of characters,
like you hear about Moe, larryand Curly and Napoleon, and
there's reasons why I use thesecolorful names.
There's also the bureaucraticperspectives as far as what
works and doesn't work in UnitedStates government bureaucracies
.
You see bureaucracy at itsfinest and at its worst in this
(29:10):
book.
Then you have the explicit,detailed inner workings of you
know the conspiracy to obstructcivil right EEO processes and
you know to defraudwhistleblowers of the reprisal
protections.
That is all meticulouslycovered.
It is covered basically blow byblow.
Yeah, some people havecomplained about you know this
(29:32):
email, that email or this personor that person, but it's all in
there because it's a legalmatter.
Whistleblowing is a legalmatter and you have to get into
the minutest details.
It's like an inquisition todetermine whether or not there
was a reprisal taken and theonly way that you can affirm
whether one was taken or not isto look at all the details of
(29:56):
the matter.
And last but not least, shall wesay, is the lack of the
so-called righteous to act andtake action.
You see it in the book where,time and time, I reached out to
certain leaders within theintelligence community the CIA,
the DNI, the inspector generalsin Congress and nobody rose up
(30:17):
to help.
It was as if they wanted toallow the CIA to take the
reprisals against me, allow themto fire me and for that matter,
here I am today still without.
The reality is the firstreprisal allegations were never
correctly or fully investigatedand, on top of that, the second
wave of reprisals were neverinvestigated.
(30:39):
But you know, here we are goingseven, eight, nine, ten years
and still no resolution.
And sadly, I find myself in aposition that nobody has arisen
to help has arisen to help, andI will end this broadcast by
also stating that you know, wehad significant change in
presidential administrations in2017.
(31:00):
You would think that in theTrump administration in 2017, I
would finally see justice.
Well, I did not.
Pompeo and Coates missing inaction.
Pompeo and Coates missing inaction.
Basically, you know, pompeo,through his number three bullet
towel, basically allowed the CIAto do as they pleased.
(31:21):
When I reached out to them, Ibasically got back a cut and
paste email with language thatwas put together obviously and
very clearly by the Office ofGeneral Counsel and, potentially
, the Inspector General.
Basically, they washed theirhands like Pontius Pilate and
said let the IG do what theywant to do, and at that time,
the CIA IG was compromised andthose details are covered in the
(31:44):
book.
Meanwhile, congress, missing inaction, doing absolutely
nothing.
For me, and even worse, in myopinion, is how, as an
evangelical, as a licensedminister at the time, having
some significant connections, Ireached out to multiple
evangelical leaders with accessto Trump and not a single one of
(32:06):
them was willing to help.
Now, the beat up individualgoing down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, beat up by robbers,thrown on the road and you know,
the priest, the Levite, thescribes, just walking on by the
side of the road, no, no helpwhatsoever.
(32:27):
And eventually a Samaritanshowed up, and the reality is
that in this journey, I've had afew Samaritans show up, but my
own kind, my own people inevangelical circles.
To this day, despite the factthat some of them have
significant influence, I haveyet to have one of them reach
out and try to help to see to itthat these issues are resolved,
(32:49):
which goes back to my closingepilogue who will speak for you
when they come looking for you?
What we have seen in thiscountry since 2017 has been an
explosion of weaponizedgovernment power, and the reason
why it is happening is isbecause men and women in
(33:09):
positions of power have failedto act to counterbalance, to be
light and to stop these forcesof darkness.
And unless we arise and stopthese forces of darkness, it's
going to continue to get worse.
So this book is a clarion callto awaken the so-called
righteous, so that we can stopthis nonsense and push back the
(33:32):
darkness with light.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.