Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Welcome! Log in to stay connected and make the most of your experience.

Input clean

Breaking Bond

Breaking Bond

We all know that James Bond is the classic example of what a perfect spy should be, at least once upon a time.  But let’s be real, times have changed.  We thought it would be perfect to ask a real former spy (one who loves a good novel), to read the new Bond novel Trigger Mortis, and report back his findings.

As a career spook, I’ve always felt conflicted about the James Bond brand and have never read a Bond novel before this one.  On the one hand, the notion that British secret agent James Bond has anything remotely to do with the reality of the espionage game is absurd.   On the other, the Bond phenomenon is great marketing for a profession that is at best misunderstood, and often reviled.  For most of my career, newspapers, authors, politicians and self-proclaimed experts wrote and spoke about intelligence professionals as all but criminals and idiots – even when they knew better. So, anything that portrays us in a good light is a net positive - James Bond is better than Maxwell Smart.

Keep reading...Show less
Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Related Articles

Report for Friday, July 18, 2025

9:03 America/New_York Friday, July 18 [...] More

Dead Drop: July 18

IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION: CIA’s existential threat might not be what you think it is, the CIA’s EXDIR is back in business, a warning to be careful of [...] More

Does the CIA Have a Trust Problem?

Does the CIA Have a Trust Problem?

In a recent opinion piece published in The Cipher Brief, former senior CIA Executive Mark Kelton suggests that the country’s leading intelligence [...] More

Expert Q&A: Putin Overplayed His Hand with Trump on Ukraine

EXPERT Q&A — President Donald Trump has offered a strong hand of support to Ukraine in recent days, pledging new weapons and threatening Russia with [...] More

Report for Thursday, July 17, 2025

9:03 America/New_York Thursday, July 17 [...] More

A Nuclear Day of the Jackal

BOOK REVIEW: The Moldavian GambitBy Brad Meslin / Manhattan Book GroupReviewed by: James LawlerThe Reviewer — James Lawler devoted more than half of [...] More

Ukraine’s Defense may Hinge on Offensive Operations

Ukraine’s Defense may Hinge on Offensive Operations

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – Russia has been bombarding Ukrainian cities with massive aerial assaults, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged [...] More

Report for Wednesday, July 16, 2025

8:45 AM America/New_York Wednesday, July 16 [...] More

China Can Do More to Improve Relations with the U.S.

OPINION — Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at the ASEAN Summit. Rubio described the [...] More