Charleston County Public Library

The spy's son, the true story of the highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage and the son he trained to spy for Russia, Bryan Denson

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

collective biography

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

The spy's son

bibliography

890615409

Bryan Denson

the true story of the highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage and the son he trained to spy for Russia

"Denson tells the riveting and extraordinary true story of the Nicholsons--father and son co-conspirators who deceived their country by selling national secrets to Russia. Jim Nicholson was one of the CIA's top veteran case officers. By day, he taught spycraft at the CIA's clandestine training center, The Farm. By night, he was a minivan-driving single father racing home to have dinner with his three kids. But Nicholson led a double life. For more than two years, he had met covertly with agents of Russia's foreign intelligence service in locations around the world and turned over troves of classified documents, including the identities of hundreds of trainees. In 1997, Nicholson became the highest ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage. But his duplicity didn't stop there. While behind the bars of a federal prison, the former mole systematically groomed the one person he trusted most to serve as his stand-in: his youngest son, Nathan. In his early twenties, deeply depressed after suffering a serious injury during military training, Nathan was easy prey for his father. When Nicholson asked him to courier messages out of prison to his Russian contacts, Nathan saw an opportunity to not only make something of himself but to make his father proud by following him into the spy world. The Spy's Son ... takes readers inside the private meeting rooms of the FBI and CIA, into the intrigues of international cat-and-mouse espionage games, and behind the closed doors of a family struggling to stay together through the deepest of betrayals."--Publisher's website

Prologue: suspected spies in chains -- Hola Nancy -- First CIA tour, Manila Station -- "Batman" switches teams -- A new counterspy collaboration -- We have another Aldrich Ames -- Spy vs. spy under Langley's roof -- FBI takedown at Dulles -- Forsaken all allegiance to his homeland -- A new cellblock celebrity -- A fall into blackness -- The Russian Consulate, San Francisco -- A spy named "George" -- Faith, prosperity, and The Door -- CIA detects codes, espionage, again -- Keep looking through your new eyes -- FBI offers a mulligan -- Inmate 734520 -- A spy swap and reparations -- Epilogue: the last asset