Truth, Fiction and Capturing the Best Story

By Bill Harlow

Bill Harlow served on active duty in the United States Navy for 25 years – retiring as a Captain. He has served as Assistant White House Press Secretary, spokesman for the Secretary of the Navy and as chief spokesman for the Director of Central Intelligence. Harlow is the author of the novel, Circle William and has co-authored four New York Times best-selling books, including George Tenet’s At the Center of the Storm. 

Bill Harlow knows how to use a word.  The Under/Cover Co-Editor and prolific author has worked with some of the very best in the national security world.  He was co-author of George Tenet’s At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, as well as roughly a half dozen other non-fiction accounts of national security issues in recent history.  He’s also tinkered with his own ideas in his fictional Circle William, published by Scribner in 1999.

Under/Cover turned the pages on Harlow this week to ask him to share some of his insights into writing success as well as some of the lessons he’s learned during his time in the writing and publishing world.  Funny enough, this retired Navy man and CIA Officer never set out to be an author.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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

Subscriber+


Related Articles

Search

Close