I.S. Berry, former CIA Operations Officer, on her historical novel, "The Peacock and the Sparrow"

Interview of Wednesday, 5 July 2023 - I.S. Berry, former CIA Operations Officer, lawyer, novelist. Host and Interviewer: James Hughes, AFIO President, a former Senior CIA Operations Officer.
TOPIC: Ilana "I.S." Berry and Jim Hughes discuss Ilana's latest spy novel, The Peacock and the Sparrow. During the Arab Spring, an American spy’s final mission goes dangerously awry. Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission-uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency against the monarchy. But then he meets Almaisa, a beautiful and enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.
When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict and his growing romance with Almaisa upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosshairs of a revolution. Drawing on all his skills as a spymaster, he must navigate a bloody uprising, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.
The interview runs 12 minutes and includes several Q&As.
Her website is here: isberry.net/
Purchase a copy of The Peacock and the Sparrow here
www.simonandschuster.com/book...
The AFIO Now video series in 2023 is sponsored by Northwest Financial Advisors at www.nwfllc.com.
BIOS:
I.S. "ILANA" BERRY, a lawyer, former CIA Operations Officer, and author, spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and elsewhere. Berry decided she preferred writing about espionage to doing it. She has lived and worked throughout Europe and the Middle East, including two years in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. The Peacock and the Sparrow is about an American spy caught in the crosswinds of the Arab Spring who becomes involved in murder, consuming love, and an unpredictable revolution. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Haverford College. Raised in the suburbs of Washington, DC, she lives in Virginia with her husband and son.
Joseph Kanon, bestselling author of The Berlin Exchange, calls it "remarkable" and Joseph Weisberg, creator of the TV series The Americans, calls it "the most realistic espionage story I've read."
JAMES R. HUGHES currently serves as the 17th President of AFIO. His service began January 2015. He had a career of US Government service spanning 37 years in numerous foreign countries with a particular focus in the Middle East. He started in U.S. Military Intelligence in the late 1960s and then joined the CIA’s Clandestine Service. He served overseas as a Chief of Station several times, and at CIA Headquarters in a number of senior management positions, including as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, in the Directorate of Operations [today’s National Clandestine Service]. He was also named the Associate Deputy Director of Operations (ADDO) at the National Security Agency, 1998-99. Following his retirement from the government in 2005, he joined EDS in Herndon, VA, as the Client Industry Executive for the U.S. Intelligence Community. After the HP acquisition of EDS, he continued to serve in a similar capacity until his retirement in 2012. His parents were missionaries in Turkey in the 1950s, where Jim spent his formative years. He is fluent in Arabic.
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[@lookaround2009]

This is one of the most engrossing and informative youtube channels I subscribe to, yet this has so few views and subscribers? Quality, not quantity! Thanks for the videos and providing fascinating insight into near recent events.

[@filmperia1945]

Ilana is great! Just had her on my channel