Good Hunting

An American Spymaster's Story

Jack Devine, Vernon Loeb

• Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781429944175
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

"A sophisticated, deeply informed account of real life in the real CIA that adds immeasurably to the public understanding of the espionage culture." —Bob Woodward
Jack Devine ran Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan. It was the largest covert action of the Cold War, and it was Devine who put the brand-new Stinger missile into the hands of the mujahideen during their war with the Soviets, paving the way to a decisive victory against the Russians. He also pushed the CIA's effort to run down the narcotics trafficker Pablo Escobar in Colombia. He tried to warn the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. He was in Chile when Allende fell, and he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it. And he tangled with Rick Ames, the KGB spy inside the CIA, and hunted Robert Hanssen, the mole in the FBI.

Good Hunting the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served for more than thirty years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the CIA's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering, all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this book also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers: covert operations, not costly and devastating full-scale interventions, are the best safeguard of America's interests worldwide.

"An entertaining chronicle of [Devine's] decades at the agency and a persuasive case for its continued relevance." — The Washington Post

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Inside the Invisible Government
• Chapter 2: Mules, Pickup Trucks, and Stinger Missiles
• Chapter 3: “Your Friend Called from the Airport”
• Chapter 4: “We Need to Polygraph Him”
• Chapter 5: “Jack, This Changes It All, Doesn’t It?”
• Chapter 6: Do I Lie to the Pope, or Break Cover?
• Chapter 7: Selling the Linear Strategy, One Lunch at a Time
• Chapter 8: Jousting with the Soviets: When I Knew It Was Over
• Chapter 9: A New Boss, a Bad Penny, and a Principled Heroin Dissent
• Chapter 10: The Rooster and the Train
• Chapter 11: Raising the Bar
• Chapter 12: Undisclosed
• Chapter 13: Splitting a Steak
• Chapter 14: Good Hunting
• Postscript
• People Consulted
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• Photographs
• A Note About the Author
• Copyright