Espionage & Spying

Journalist Jeffrey Rosen's article in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine is about the CIA's effort to partner with Silicon Valley to develop new anti-terrorist technologies. The CIA has founded a venture-capital firm that funds the development of cutting-edge technologies that may be useful for national security, in particular new techniques for finding terrorists. Rosen will talk about some of these technologies — and what civil libertarians think of them.

Milt Bearden spent 30 years in the CIA. He ran the CIA covert operations in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, and helped train the Afghan freedom fighters. Bearden also was station chief in Pakistan, Moscow, and Khartoum. He received the CIA highest honor, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal. Since the Sept. 11th attacks, Bearden has been a frequent commentator on TV and in print. He is also the author of the novel, The Black Tulip: A Novel of War in Afghanistan (paperback, Random House).

Critic John Powers reviews the film "Spy Game."

James Bamford has investigated the inner-workings of the National Security Agency for his new book, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency: From the Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century (Doubleday). The book examines the Agency's past and its present activities including the ongoing hunt for the terrorist Osama bin Laden.

His string of bestsellers, such as The Bourne Identity, The Osterman Weekend, and The Icarus Agenda, established him as one of literature's most successful espionage novelists. Ludlum died yesterday of a heart attack. He was 74 years old.

He's written six historical spy novels, all taking place in Europe just before World War II. They include Night Soldiers, Dark Star, The World at Night and his new one, Kingdom of Shadows.

Maureen Corrigan reviews Demonology

Retired CIA intelligence officer, Antonio J. Mendex was the agency's Chief of Disguise. He retired in 1990. In his 25 year career with the agency, he participated in many missions. In 1980 he helped six American diplomats escape from Tehran. Masquerading as a movie producer, he entered Iran supposedly to scout locations for a science-fiction movie. He then coached the diplomats to pose as the film crew, allowing them to leave the country. His new book is "The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA." (William and Morrow Company).

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Stuart A. Herrington. He spent 30 years as a military intelligence officer, serving in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. He was the Army's authority on counterintelligence and on the interrogation and debriefing of defectors and prisoners of war. He's written the new book "Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy Catcher's World" (Presido).

Journalists Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew. They are the authors of the new book, "Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage" (PublicAffairs). The two spent six years researching secret submarine missions like how the Navy sent submarines wired with self destruct charges into Soviet waters to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. Sontag covered government and international affairs for the National Law Journal and has worked at the New York Times, and Drew is a special projects editor at the New York Times.

Film critic John Powers reviews the new film starring Robert Deniro, "Ronin."

A discussion about terrorism with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tim Weiner. He writes about the CIA for "The New York Times." He talks about the changing nature of terrorism and specifically the challenges of tracking down Islamic militant Osama Bin Laden.

TV critic David Bianculli has some thoughts on the Fall TV season's new "That '70s Show" and the movie version of "The Avengers," which is out in theatres now.

In the wake of Xena: Warrior Princess's success, TV critic David Bianculli reviews three new TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daria, and Spy Game. He says they're all fun to watch.

Spy-watcher and gadget collector, Keith Melton who's book, "The Ultimate Spy Book" (DK Publishing) has been published recently.

Journalist Evan Thomas. He is Assistant Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief at Newsweek. His new book is The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA (Simon & Schuster). In the book he tells about the men who ran the CIA's covert operations during the worst of the cold war years. Thomas had access to the CIA's own records about their operations, and he interviewed many of the men involved. Thomas was the only person to have such access to the CIA's archives. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Congress has decided to conduct a study of the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the post-Cold War world. The agency suffered a shake-up following the discovery of the double agent Aldrich Ames. Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner writes about the CIA for "The New York Times." He talks with Terry Gross today about what changes may take place in the agency as a result of the investigation.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "A Clear and Present Danger," a macho and intelligent espionage thriller starring Harrison Ford.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new Arnold Schwarzenegger/Jamie Lee Curtis film. Schiff says it features small-scale wit and large-scale pyrotechnics -- though it never manages to blend the two.

Journalist Martha Honey. She worked as a freelance journalist in Costa Rica from 1983 to 1991. Her clients included Times (London), The Nation, ABC television, and National Public Radio. In 1984, she and her husband, Tony Avirgan were covering a press conference called by contra leader Eden Pastora Gomez, when a bomb exploded killing three journalists, and injuring dozens of other people, including Pastora, who was the intended target. (Tony Avirgan was also one of the people injured.) Honey and Avirgan and other journalists set out to find the person(s) responsible.