Stories from Langley: A Glimpse Inside the CIA

Applicants to the Central Intelligence Agency often asked Edward Mickolus what they might expect in a career there. Mickolus, a former CIA intelligence officer whose duties also included recruiting and public affairs, never had a simple answer. If applicants were considering a life in the National Clandestine Service, the answer was easy. Numerous memoirs show the lives of operations officers collecting secret intelligence overseas, conducting counterintelligence investigations, and running covert action programs. But the CIA isn’t only about case officers in far-flung areas of the world, recruiting spies to steal secrets. For an applicant considering a career as an analyst, a support officer, a scientist, or even a secretary, few sources provide reliable insight into what a more typical career at the CIA might look like. This collection of the exploits and insights of twenty-nine everyday agency employees is Mickolus’s answer. From individuals who have served at the highest levels of the agency to young officers just beginning their careers, Stories from Langley reveals the breadth of career opportunities available at the CIA and offers advice from agency officers themselves.

Table of Contents:
Introduction     Part 1: Speaking Truth to Power: CIA Intelligence Analysts Getting In: Why Join the Directorate of Intelligence? 1. Careers in Intelligence Analysis     Volko F. Ruhnke 2. The Best Speech I Ever Gave, the Best Thing I Ever Wrote     Martin Petersen Briefing the President 3. Working with Words and Enjoying the View     John Hollister Hedley 4. Never Boring, Often Meaningful, and Almost Fun     Henry Appelbaum 5. Briefing Presidential Candidates      John Helgerson Monitoring Soviet Military Capabilities 6. The Soviets Go on the LAMM     Michael D. Flint and Boyd Sutton 7. Making the World Safe through SAFE     Michael D. Flint 8. Getting the Facts Right     Tony Williams Winning the Cold War 9. An Economist’s Look at the Soviet Union, and Beyond     Robert E. Leggett 10. Two of the “Coolest” Things I Did Working for the CIA     Robert Blackwell 11. A Cold War CIA Analyst Remembers     Anne Campbell Gruner A Wealth of Options 12. Reminiscences of a Checkered Past     Nicholas Starr 13. Reflections on an Eclectic CIA Career     Alan More 14. A Geographer Looks Back at 50 Years with the CIA     Will Rogers 15. An “Out-of-Body Experience”: Seeing the DI with New Eyes     Jon Nowick 16. Peasant at the Creation: The Agency’s First Terrorism Analyst and Beyond     Edward Mickolus Dealing with The Rest of the World 17. Satellite Imagery and the Afghan Task Force     Tom Sheridan 18. Slideshow     Jeri DiGiulio 19. Meanwhile, in Asia . . .      Merrily Baird Part 2: Heroes Behind the Heroes: CIA Support Officers A Quick Look at Oversight 20. On Planet Congress     Martin Petersen 21. In Support, You Never Know Where You Might End Up-and What You Might Learn along the Way     Dan King 22. What Is a Promise Worth?      Dan King 23. An Adventure in the Far East     Robert A. Morgan Jr. 24. First Tour Adventures: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Missionary     Hugh S. Pettis 25. Out of the Barn, Into the Beltway     Hazel Harrison 26. Ed and a Secretary: How I Ended Up at the CIA     Martin Petersen 27. Traveling with the President     Frank Ryan 28. KH601     Richard Irwin A Hero’s Story 29. Our Man in Havana’s Jails: Temporary Duty Assignment in Hell     Walter E. Szuminski A Word from Our Predecessors 30. Operation Oshima     John Behling And from the Next Generation 31. The Other Side of the CIA: My Life as a CIA Analyst     Gregor S. Vision, Mission, and Values Statement of the Central Intelligence Agency     Suggested Reading     Contributors       

About the Author :
Edward Mickolus is the founder and president of Vinyard Software, Inc., and served in analytical, operational, and management positions at the Central Intelligence Agency for thirty-three years. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including More Stories from Langley: Another Glimpse inside the CIA (Potomac, 2020), The Terrorist List, and The Secret Book of CIA Humor.  

Review :
“Stories from Langley provides an invaluable behind-the-scenes look at professional life inside the CIA. While many have written about great operational exploits, few have focused on the daily lives and challenges of analysts, support officers, and engineers, members of the organization whose work is as essential if not as glamorous in the public eye. Young men and women wondering about what to expect in these varied CIA careers will find the book fascinating, revealing, and perhaps even enticing.”-George Tenet, former director of Central Intelligence “One of the most difficult aspects of intelligence is trying to convey to outsiders what that life-especially as an analyst-is really like. Most fiction is overblown and inevitably focuses on operations and spying. Stories from Langley is a delightful foray into the actual experiences of a broad range of intelligence officers and fills an important gap in our intelligence literature. Anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of an intelligence career will find this a useful and worthwhile read.”-Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director of Central Intelligence for analysis and production