Imagining a CIA Operation in Damascus
BOOK REVIEW: Damascus Station: A Novel
By David McCloskey / W.W. Norton & Company
Reviewed by Robert Richer
The Reviewer — Robert Richer served as a former Associate Deputy Director for Operations at the CIA. He retired in 2005 and before his retirement he also served as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, responsible for Clandestine Service Operations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. Mr. Richer currently consults on Middle East and national security issues and is a senior partner with International Advisory Partners.
REVIEW — Damascus Station is an exceptionally well-crafted novel of espionage, tradecraft and Syria at the onset of the Civil War. It strongly captures what happens when dangerous and at risk professional relationships turn personal.
This debut novel by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst David McCloskey clearly benefits from Mr. McCloskey’s deep understanding of Syria at the time the novel takes place. As someone who has worked in Syria and neighboring countries and personally met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and as someone who has dealt with his security apparatus, I can strongly attest that Mr. McCloskey captures the paranoia of those living in Damascus while the country was slowly sinking into disfunction. He vividly portrays the brutality of President Assad’s regime and the pervasive reach of the Syrian security services. Throughout the novel, I could picture the streets of Damascus and its environs and feel, through the author’s excellent descriptive prose, what the novel’s characters were experiencing.
The premise of the book is relatively straight forward. Experienced CIA Case officer Sam Joseph arrives in Syria in support of the exfiltration of a key Syrian agent who may have been compromised by Syrian Security entities. The character is working under foreign commercial cover in support of the exfiltration, having driven a CIA modified vehicle from Amman with an internal concealment in which to hide the asset. Joseph’s role is to exfiltrate both the asset and the asset’s handling case officer, a CIA officer who Joseph has served with during a previous tour. (A case officer is the professional term used for Agency officers who recruit and handle agents/assets.)
The agent misses his contact windows for pick-up and the operation is compromised with the Syrian security services breaching the safehouse where Joseph and the handling case officer, Valerie Owens are located. Joseph makes his escape, as he is not acting under official cover and thus, has no official or diplomatic protection. Owens stays due to complications with the exfiltration and is arrested by the Syrians. The belief is that as Owens has diplomatic protection, she will not be held long or mistreated by the Syrians. That premise proves wrong, however and what subsequently transpires is an exceptional spy story with more than a few missteps by its principal characters, an ill-conceived personal dalliance with a recruited agent and the internal play by foreign actors that leads not only to furthering Syria’s downward spiral to full civil war but also the growth of ISIS.
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The author accurately portrays the duties of both CIA case officers and analysts. He also captures the bureaucracy and infighting within senior ranks of the CIA which often escapes the writings of those without experience inside the organization. His grasp of operational tradecraft is good and is complimented by his personal experience and understanding of analytical tradecraft. However, there were some places in the novel that I felt like could have been written with more authenticity. The principal character’s deeply personal and intimate relationship with his recruited asset felt somewhat contrived initially. However, those missteps do happen even though the Agency trains its officers to divorce personal feelings from professional relationships. Joseph, the principal character, is human and falls into that trap. That said, the writer portrays how such a relationship develops, the angst of both of those involved and the ultimate ramifications personally, professionally an operationally.
All in all, Damascus Station is a great espionage novel and in some ways, serves as a tutorial on tradecraft for those on the outside.
Damascus Station earns a prestigious four out of four trench coats.
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