Blowing My Cover

I picked this book up at a discount shop to read during a long flight. I quickly discovered that I had inadvertently stumbled upon a real gem. Blowing My Cover describes spy-turned-author Lindsay Moran's journey from a straight-A Harvard student to a cunning intelligence operator in Eastern Europe. While Moran's descriptions of the intense training are gripping, what makes the book truly enjoyable are her own insights. Approaching, at times, almost a slapstick tone, Moran describes her own insecurities and moral dilemmas as she proceeds to enter into the secretive world of the covert operator. Also, she must deal with the difficulties of balancing a personal life with an unusually demanding professional life, as well as her own moral qualms with simultaneously being an actor, con-artist, bureaucrat, and patriot. Anyone with an interest in real-world espionage will enjoy Moran's fast-paced memoir, even more so if they can relate to her frustrations with the endless bureaucracy and double-speak of government employment.

`Blowing My Cover' engrossed me; I finished it in 24 hours. One either loves it or hates it: Most reviewers awarded either five stars or one. Some plainly have an intelligence background, and they appeared most likely to pan this book. It's understandable that Moran's palpable disrespect for CIA and her former colleagues would raise hackles among career spies. That said, unlike some reviewers, I was not bowled over by Moran's snobbery; and having misspent far too much time around journalists and diplomats, I have sensitive anti-snob antennae. Despite my respect for intelligence veterans who see her - with considerable justification - as a spoiled, self-absorbed brat, Moran is on to something important. Agency officials would be wise not to dismiss her insights. Moran paints CIA as a bureaucracy first, a spy agency a distant second - at best. Toward the end, her otherwise flip account takes a heartbreaking turn: In the aftermath of 9/11, working out of the US embassy in Skopje, Moran tracks down an Albanian with links to Arab militants who had fought in Bosnia. She persuades him to consider re-establishing contact with his old war buddies, some of whom are presumably still running around the Balkans. When she reports her new contact to higher HQ, she is told immediately to break off contact. The reason? Langley ran his name through their database and found he had links to terrorists. Well, duh ... That was no fluke. A prescient article in the June/July 2001 issue of Atlantic Monthly by former CIA official Reuel Marc Gerecht quotes a junior US spy based in Pakistan remarking, vis a vis fieldwork, that "if it involves diarrhea as a way of life, it doesn't happen." There have been exceptions, like the `Jawbreaker' mission in Afghanistan after 9/11 (see `First In,' by Gary Schroen). But Gerecht's article and Moran's book generally dovetail with what I saw during years of field reporting from southwest Asia. Moran's perhaps unintended good news is that our spies are handicapped mainly by obsessive security restrictions - not by a lack of courage, curiosity or critical thinking skills. (What a contrast with media hacks!) The Agency needs more `Jawbreakers,' less bureaucratic hand-wringing. Until that transformation, when you hear `CIA,' don't think Tom Cruise in `Mission Impossible'; think Jack Lemmon in `Glengarry Glen Ross.'

I just finished reading "Blowing My Cover" and am thoroughly impressed. I had read most of the reviews on this site before reading the book and after reading them I was a bit reluctant to read it. The topic however was interesting enough that I went out and purchased this book and began reading it. When I started I already had a bias against the author, thinking that she would come off as someone whiny and self-absorbed who didn't take her job seriously, and was naive about the whole idea of being a case officer. Ironically, I think it is many of the reviewers who are naive about what this book was really about. This is a memoir, not a "spy novel" as many have written, and I think most people were expecting something along the lines of James Bond. I think the strongest asset of the book is its ability to weave an informative and interesting account of life in the CIA with the author's own personal life. Lindsey does an excellent job of telling what the psychological effects of the job were in addition to the technical aspects of being a case officer. Lindsey also is definitely a gifted writer, her wit and vivid descriptions never left me bored, but on the contrary, hungry for more. I highly recommend reading this book if you are in any way interested in what the CIA does, and what it takes to be a part of it. Just remember, this is not a James Bond film, or the tv show "Alias", just a personalized account of what it takes to be a part of the CIA.

Lindsay Moran was my English teacher when I was a 13 year old girl in Bulgaria. She was one of those people that leaves a deep mark on you and even to this day I still relish the memories of her as someone I looked up to. Apart from very sharp and talented, Lindsay was also confident and brave - she would stand up to anyone and speak up her mind if something did not make sense, and she taught us to do the same. I am happy to find out that she still stands up and speaks her mind, even if it is to the CIA. Reading the book for me was less about learning what goes on behind the curtains in the CIA than about what goes on in the head of a smart young woman looking for her place in life and love and constantly challenging her priorities - something to which I can deeply relate to as a young professional in the corporate world. It was a bit eerie reading the book and recognizing some of Lindsay's thoughts and misgivings as my own as I go through my twenties, seeing my home country and the reality I grew up with through her eyes and quietly chuckling at her poignant and spot-on reflections of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian character. I also couldn't help but speculate in my mind what would have happened had I spotted her during her exercise dinner at Le Bec Fin in Philly, where I was frequently attending recruiting dinners while a senior at Penn - I would have probably shouted out an emphatic "Lindsay!!!" and would have pounced to hug her with all my excitement! I wonder if she would have looked at me and said: "I'm sorry, you are mistaken, I am Alice Applegate"...

The information revealed in this book about CIA training and operational procedures is fascinating and unprecidented (one can't but wonder how they let her get away with it!) This is the book that you read in one sitting, but keep returning to mentally for days and weeks. And Ms. Moran's easy, self-depricating wit had me laughing out loud. This book was touching, entertaining, and funny (and I learned a few things about about espionage, our government and foreign policy). A stunning debut from a talented writer!