Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy

Everything I know about being a spy was limited to my obsession with the show Alias and the occasional James Bond movie. Suffice to say, I had a very glamourous idea of what it meant to be a spy: crazy get-ups, dangerous situations, revenge seeking nemeses and evil genius bosses. So I was very excited to read Lindsay Moran’s true story of her time working overseas for the CIA.

It seemed that Lindsay Moran shared my ideas of what it meant to be a CIA spy before she signed up to actually be one. She became fascinated with the idea of espionage through spy novels and movies and even suspected that both her father and grandfather (Boompah) worked secretly for the CIA. After applying and being accepted into the CIA, Moran soon learns what will be required. After a particularly uncomfortable experience with a lie detector test, Moran realizes that her private life is going to have to be put on hold. Nothing can be hidden from the agency. The first to go- Moran’s Bulgarian boyfriend.

Moran starts with office work and classes (CIA 101). She bonds with her fellow trainees like Warren, an overall good guy who happens to fall asleep in every lecture and blow people’s cover in public, or Aaron, who likes to end conversations with a hearty “Semper Fi!”

Moran continued to bond with other trainees at “The Farm” (a CIA-owned site in Virginia). I found this to be the most interesting part of the book. At The Farm, Moran earns the nickname “Miss Daisy” during the defensive driving course, careens through obstacle courses, learns how to shoot guns, jump out of an airplane, and shake a tail. I often found myself laughing out loud at Moran’s misadventures- especially when she inadvertently shut down the base’s electricity for several hours after missing the designated area for a drop from an airplane.

Once Moran’s training ends and she begins field work, the pace of the book begins to slow. I actually found this to be the least entertaining part of the story. Moran begins work in the field overseas in Bulgaria and Macedonia, trying to find individuals with knowledge the CIA could use. None of the agents she recruits or meets with seem to be worthwhile- or too intelligent. As Moran becomes increasingly frustrated with her work, her world becomes increasingly insulated. She never sees her family and is constantly lying to her friends. The existence of a CIA spy becomes less thrilling or satisfying than she had hoped. There would be no sneaking late at night into foreign military offices to steal codes. She seemed to have spent most of her time with creepy, chauvinistic men who proved to be a waste of time or swimming in the polluted public swimming pool.

While the story lags at the end, I really enjoyed Moran’s style throughout the book. Her writing is energetic, witty, and honest. The entire story takes you through the six years she spent in the CIA. It is an interesting look into the world of spying- and the complicated existence of the spy.

The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million

Months ago, I was channel surfing and stopped on the C-SPAN Book station. I hardly ever watch this station, but for some reason I stopped to watch a bit. A lady was interviewing author Daniel Mendelsohn about his most recent book The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million. I’m so glad that I paused to hear his amazing story about the search for six of his relatives who died in the Holocaust. The Lost is the incredible tale of his journey all over the world to find out how these people- an uncle, an aunt and their four daughters- died during World War II. I was at the bookstore last week and was ecstatic to see the book out in paperback. It didn’t take me long to finish; I couldn’t put it down.

Mendelsohn doesn’t simply tell you this story; it is more like a conversation. While I was reading the pages, I felt like he could have been sitting across the table from me relating these stories himself. He begins with his childhood- how older relatives would sometimes cry when they looked at him because of his stark resemblance to a dead great-uncle. Of his grandfather’s six siblings, Shmiel Jager was the only one hadn’t emigrated to the United States. Shmiel Jager, his wife Ester, and their four daughters Lorka, Frydka, Ruchele and Bronia all perished during the Holocaust. Nobody knew what happened to them during the time leading up to their deaths or how exactly they died. It was for these reasons that Mendelsohn traveled so far to answer these questions.

For hundred of years, the Jager family had lived in the Ukranian town of Bolechow. Of the six thousand Jewish people who lived in Bolechow, only forty-eight survived the war and when Mendelsohn began his travels in 2003 there were only twelve that were still alive. And so he traveled to places like Australia, Israel, Sweden and Denmark and through these survivors he began an amazing journey in getting to know Shmiel, Ester, Lorka, Frydka, Ruchele and Bronia. Not only how they died, but how they lived.

The Lost is so much more than just Mendelsohn’s search for his relatives. It’s a story that explores family and community, heritage and identity, religion and culture, war, survival, distance and time. It’s a riveting story and a must-read.