Welcome to the COREY PEARSON- CIA SPYMASTER SERIES!

                    Whether you’re looking for a quick, thrilling short-story read or an immersive spy novel to sink into, Corey Pearson's world has something for every adventure lover. Buckle up, explore the world of espionage, and join Corey Pearson on his next mission today! 

COREY PEARSON- CIA SPYMASTER NOVEL SERIES: Enter the deadly world of Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster, where deception is survival and the enemy hides in plain sight in these full-length novels. In Mission of Vengeance, Pearson hunts Russian agents behind a Caribbean massacre. In Shadow War, he uncovers a sleeper cell plot threatening millions on U.S. soil. From covert ops to nuclear threats, these gripping thrillers fuse real spycraft with breakneck action. The line between ally and traitor blurs—and only Pearson’s team can stop the chaos before it’s too late. Then, In Payback, a ruthless assassin is on the loose, murdering young CIA operatives- rising stars handpicked for a secret CIA Mentorship Program.

COREY PEARSON- CIA SPYMASTER SHORT STORY SERIES: These quick, 20-30 minute reads are perfect for spy thriller enthusiasts who crave high-stakes missions packed with real-world espionage and gripping spycraft. Read them in any order and get whisked away into Corey Pearson's daring adventures- devour each one in a single sitting!

Real CIA Espionage: The Art of Blending In Under Deep Cover

 

Undercover CIA operative blends in, hiding in plain sight

In the covert world of espionage, creating and maintaining a credible false identity, or "legend," is the cornerstone skill. CIA operatives master this art to seamlessly transition from international missions to blending back into civilian life after returning home in Washington, D.C. Their ordinary roles hide extraordinary feats, serving as school teachers, baristas, or accountants, while their actual tasks lead them through the labyrinth of international intrigue.

     Learning how to live under a fake identity isn’t something you just pick up on the fly. It takes serious training and a lot of imagination. It usually starts with intense workshops that drop operatives into situations that feel uncomfortably real. They work on things like mastering new accents, putting together believable fake paperwork, and getting a solid grip on the politics and culture of the country they’re assigned to.

     Sometimes they’re even placed in a mock foreign town, where they have to live day to day among actors playing locals. The goal is simple: make the new identity feel so natural that it holds up, even when people start asking questions.

     Real spies aren’t just movie characters. People like Valerie Plame and   Antonio J. Mendez show what the job actually looks like when the cameras aren’t rolling. Plame, whose cover was famously blown to the public, spent years quietly carrying out sensitive missions under an assumed identity, all while keeping up the appearance of a normal suburban life. As explored in CIA Spy Living Next Door: Valerie Plame’s Secret Life, her story is a reminder of how thin the line can be between everyday routine and classified danger.

     Then there’s Tony Mendez, a master of disguise with a creative streak that turned out to be a lifesaver. During the Iranian hostage crisis, he helped pull off one of the boldest extractions in CIA history by posing as a Hollywood filmmaker scouting a movie. Using fake scripts, costumes, and pure nerve, he got six Americans out safely. The full story, told in Tony Mendez, the CIA Hero Behind the Movie “ARGO”, reads almost too wild to be true. Together, their experiences show just how much ingenuity, risk, and quiet sacrifice goes into a life lived undercover.

     The intricate cover stories in the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series capture the complex realities of living dual lives through engaging narratives. Corey and his team expertly integrate their CIA duties with civilian roles that allow them to return from overseas missions and blend effortlessly back into their lives in Washington, D.C.

     Corey, posing as a globe-trotting freelance wildlife photographer, has a facade that supports his intelligence gathering in remote regions. Ana, characterized as a charming independent travel agent, leverages her role to gather critical intel using expansive travel networks. Brad, a tech consultant for nonprofits, bridges the digital domain of espionage with a believable civilian demeanor in the tech scene. Steve and Ashley run a bustling wedding photography business, an occupation that not only keeps them on the move but also masks their covert activities with an air of romance and artistry.

     Meanwhile, Stacey, working as a cybersecurity specialist, uses her expertise to fortify operations while maintaining an air of normalcy. Each member's credible persona enables them to live ordinary lives, securely hiding their true CIA roles while keeping their covert operations masked by their day-to-day interactions.

     Pulling off a believable fake identity isn’t just about learning accents or carrying the right documents. It’s really about understanding how people think and act. Corey Pearson showed exactly how far that skill can go when he posed as a customs official from the Dominican Republic. Dressed in the right uniform and carrying himself with total confidence, he walked straight onto the yacht of a Russian oligarch suspected of plotting a deadly virus attack on U.S. soil. One wrong move could’ve blown everything. The stakes couldn’t have been higher.

     Seen this way, Corey Pearson and his team are a perfect example of how espionage really works. Every operative has to be a chameleon, slipping into carefully built identities that keep them safe and get the job done. Each fake life is put together with purpose, helping protect national security while they walk the tightrope of living two lives at once. The trick is making it all look so natural that no one ever questions it.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His work offers readers an insider’s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired by the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community.

The KGB Defector Who Exposed Russia’s Intelligence Playbook and What It Means for U.S. National Security

 

A Quiet KGB Archivist Revealed Russia's Long Game For Penetrating America

     What stays with me is how real power often slips through the hands of people no one is watching. Vasili Mitrokhin did not look like a threat to the Soviet system. He was a KGB archivist, a quiet bureaucrat trusted with files and records that were never meant to see daylight. That trust was the mistake. For years, he copied secrets by hand, hiding notes under floorboards and in the walls of his dacha. His family had no idea. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he didn’t rush west. He waited. Then, with unsettling calm, he walked into a Western embassy and changed the intelligence balance overnight.

     What Mitrokhin carried out was not trivia or old war stories. It was the operational memory of the KGB itself. Names of agents planted across Europe, details of assassinations, influence campaigns, disinformation operations, and long-term strategies meant to quietly shape other countries from the inside. U.S. intelligence immediately saw this was not about the past. It was a blueprint for how Russian intelligence worked and how it would likely keep working.

     Mitrokhin did not defect for money or attention. He was disillusioned. He had watched repression up close and seen how truth was buried to preserve the illusion of control. That kind of disillusionment is what intelligence officers look for. It signals stress inside an authoritarian system and shows where cracks are forming. U.S. intelligence worries about those cracks not only because they weaken adversaries, but because they reveal how easily fear and loyalty can be weaponized anywhere.

     That theme runs straight through the spy thriller Mission of Vengeance. CIA spymaster Corey Pearson and his elite team confront a former KGB officer who defects for the same reason Mitrokhin did. He cannot stomach how Vladimir Putin’s rebranded security services, the FSB and GRU, revived the old KGB playbook, tightening repression while pretending Russia had moved on. The defector is haunted by how little actually changed, and that moral exhaustion finally pushes him to act.

     One of the most unsettling lessons from Mitrokhin’s files is patience. The spies he exposed lived ordinary lives for decades inside the U.S. They raised families, held normal jobs, and quietly positioned themselves inside trusted institutions. U.S. intelligence still studies those cases because they show how a democracy can be weakened without a single shot fired, simply by exploiting openness and good faith. It’s not flashy. That’s why it works.

     There’s an uncomfortable truth underneath all this. Intelligence officers are trained to follow facts, not political loyalty. When their assessments clash with what leaders want to hear, tension is inevitable. The real danger comes when intelligence is ignored or attacked. U.S. intelligence has worried about this for years because adversaries see it clearly and exploit it. A divided system is easier to manipulate.

     Mitrokhin’s defection exposed not just secrets, but arrogance. The belief that control was absolute. It wasn’t. In Mission of Vengeance, Corey Pearson and his team understand that protecting a defector isn’t just about extracting information. It’s about signaling that America still values truth over convenience.

     That signal matters. Allies and adversaries both watch how the United States treats intelligence professionals and truth tellers. When political loyalty outweighs intelligence assessments and long-term strategy, national security erodes from the inside. Mitrokhin showed how much damage one disillusioned archivist could do to a system built on fear.

     The harder question is whether America will listen to its own intelligence community before warnings turn into hindsight.

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Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His work offers readers an insider’s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired by the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community. 

 How the CIA, NSA, and Cyber Command Pulled Off the Capture of Maduro—and What It Means for U.S. Power

 

A covert night raid that reshaped global power, revealing how U.S. intelligence, special operations, and cyber warfare now define modern national security.

     What stands out to me about the Maduro raid isn’t just that it worked. It’s how deliberately choreographed it was across the entire U.S. intelligence and military system, and what that says about where American power is headed.

     The CIA was the backbone of the operation. This wasn’t a last-minute scramble or a lucky break. Agency officers had spent months quietly building a detailed portrait of Maduro’s movements and personal patterns. They weren’t just tracking locations, they were studying behavior. Where he liked to spend time, how he moved through secure spaces, what kinds of security precautions he relied on, and which ones he ignored. That kind of intelligence only comes from long-term, human-driven collection, and it’s what allowed planners to narrow the window down to a moment when Maduro was exposed enough to be taken alive. Without that work, the rest of the operation would’ve been guesswork.

     At the same time, the NSA was doing what it does best: dominating the electromagnetic space. Communications tied to Venezuelan security forces were closely monitored, giving U.S. planners a real-time sense of when guards were alert, when units were shifting positions, and when internal chatter suggested confusion or delay. That information helped reduce the risk to the assault force by ensuring they weren’t flying blind into a city full of armed loyalists. The operation depended on knowing not just where Maduro was, but what everyone else thought was happening.

     The NGA filled in the physical picture. Using satellite imagery and other sensors, it produced highly detailed maps of the target area, including building layouts and surrounding terrain. Those visuals weren’t academic. They were the difference between operators knowing exactly where they were stepping and having to improvise under fire. When Delta Force moved in, they weren’t encountering surprises. They were executing against a space that had already been studied from every angle.

     Then there was Cyber Command. While the specifics remain classified, it’s clear cyber capabilities were used to disrupt Caracas at a critical moment. Power and communications failures created confusion, slowed response times, and fractured coordination among Maduro’s security forces. That wasn’t collateral damage. It was intentional shaping of the environment, using civilian infrastructure as a pressure point to tilt the odds in favor of the raiding force before helicopters ever touched down.

     All of that intelligence work fed directly into the military action. Delta Force didn’t stumble onto Maduro or chase him through the city. They went straight to him, breached the site before he could reach a hardened safe room, and extracted him quickly. It was a precision strike enabled by years of investment in intelligence integration and interagency cooperation.

     What troubles me isn’t the competence. It’s the precedent. This was a sovereign leader captured through a blend of espionage, cyber disruption, and special operations. That’s not traditional counterterrorism. It’s a form of targeted regime intervention, and once you demonstrate you can do it, you implicitly argue that it’s acceptable. Other powers won’t hesitate to adopt the same logic, even if their targets and values look nothing like ours.

     For America’s national security, the risk is escalation by imitation. For the intelligence community, the risk is mission creep, where collecting information becomes inseparable from executing political outcomes. And for democratic values, the danger lies in how quietly these capabilities can be used without sustained public debate.

     If the United States wants to preserve long-term strategic stability and moral credibility, it has to decide whether operations like this are exceptional or whether they’re becoming the new normal. That choice will shape not just how others see us, but how we see ourselves.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His work offers readers an insider’s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired by the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community.

Power, intelligence, and consequence collide as America reshapes Venezuela’s future

 

Venezuela Crisis Exposes the High Stakes of U.S. Intervention and Global Power

     I read the NBC News article about Maduro arriving in New York and Trump saying the U.S. will govern Venezuela until there’s a “proper transition,” and it stuck with me. It made me think about how power shows itself when the usual rules start to bend. Hearing the United States openly say it’s going to run another country, even temporarily, isn’t just bold. It’s unsettling. It says a lot about how America sees its place in the world and how it weighs security against values and long-term consequences.

     This doesn’t feel like a clean legal move or a straightforward humanitarian effort. It feels like power being exercised because it can be, and that kind of leverage always comes with baggage.

     Taking over another country’s government, even if you call it temporary, runs straight into the wall of sovereignty and international law. There’s no getting around that. And yet that’s exactly what happened after Nicolás Maduro was seized in a military operation and flown out of Venezuela. Once you start talking about running another country until a transition happens, the questions pile up fast. Who decides what a “proper” transition even looks like? Who actually benefits when that transition is over? And where do regular Venezuelans fit into all of this?

     Those aren’t ivory-tower questions. They’re the kinds of things U.S. intelligence professionals worry about constantly because they cut right to credibility, blowback, and long-term consequences.

     There’s always been a tension in Washington between bold political talk and the quieter, more cautious judgments coming out of the intelligence agencies. Politicians like clean lines and big statements. Intelligence analysts don’t work that way. Folks at the CIA and DNI aren’t looking at the world in slogans or good-guy versus bad-guy terms. They’re tracking loyalties, alliances, risks, and what could go wrong when nobody’s watching.

     They also know something history keeps proving. Taking out a dictator doesn’t automatically make things better. Sometimes it makes them much worse. When a strongman falls, the chaos that follows can be more dangerous than the regime that came before it. Countries splinter. Proxy wars emerge. Violence drags on without a clear end. That’s the reality intelligence professionals are paid to worry about, even when it doesn’t fit neatly into a political message.

     So when the president talks about acting “for the good of the Venezuelan people,” intelligence professionals are already looking a few moves ahead. They’re not denying how badly the Maduro regime failed or brushing off the real suffering Venezuelans have endured for years. They understand that. But they also know that stepping in and running another country from the outside, even with good intentions, can backfire fast. It can deepen instability, hand propaganda wins to America’s rivals and weaken U.S. credibility with democratic allies who take sovereignty seriously.

     They’re also very aware of how this looks to the rest of the world. Images and headlines of the United States governing another country, even temporarily, are exactly the kind of material Russia and China love to exploit. It feeds their narrative that America isn’t a supporter of democracy, but an empire throwing its weight around. That’s why U.S. intelligence is watching this so closely, because in global politics, perception often matters as much as what’s happening on the ground.

     In my own spy thriller reading and writing, I’ve always been drawn to moments like this, where things look simple on the surface but fall apart once you get closer. In my Corey Pearson–CIA Spymaster Series, missions that seem clean at first quickly turn messy when human nature, local politics, and on-the-ground realities collide. Fiction is just a way to explore those deeper truths.

     The difference is that the people making these calls in Washington and inside the intelligence community don’t get neat chapter endings. They’re dealing with the same dilemmas right now, and they have to live with the consequences long after the headlines fade.

     There’s a moral struggle here that goes beyond maps and military plans. For decades, the United States has talked about standing up for democracy and helping people break free from oppression. But when we act alone and use force, the line between helping and controlling blurs fast. And when loyalty to a political agenda matters more than what intelligence professionals are warning about, power stops being used carefully. It becomes a gamble.

     This moment highlights a bigger problem about how America sees itself versus how it actually acts. National security isn’t just about capturing leaders or scoring quick wins. It’s about trust, credibility, and keeping allies on your side over time. It means backing up our values with our actions. When leaders prioritize short-term victories over long-term strategy, it raises red flags. And it’s not just adversaries who notice. Allies start to wonder if raw power has replaced principle.

     What America is really deciding right now isn’t just how to get out of Venezuela without making things worse. It’s whether we want to lead by working with others and respecting the rules we expect everyone else to follow, or by throwing our weight around and daring the world to accept it.   That’s why U.S. intelligence officials are losing sleep over this. They know this choice won’t just shape Venezuela’s future. It’s going to define America’s security and standing for years to come.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His work offers readers an insider’s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired by the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community.

Inside the Maduro Capture: CIA and Delta Force Operation Straight Out of a Spy Thriller

 

From Spy Thriller to Reality- The CIA and Delta Force Took Down Maduro

     What struck me about the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife wasn’t the shock value. It was how cleanly the operation itself came together, even as the aftermath looks ill-planned at best and completely uncertain at worst. God knows what the next few months are going to bring politically and diplomatically, but setting that aside, this was not a symbolic strike or a warning shot.

     Nevertheless, Maduro was a ruthless and violent dictator who ruled through fear, corruption, and force, and this was a deliberate choice to reach into a protected space, seize a sitting head of state, and put him on a plane bound for the United States to face trial. You don’t take a risk like that unless you’re convinced the intelligence is solid and the operators on the ground can execute without hesitation or second-guessing.

     From everything that’s come out, the CIA had been grinding away at this long before anyone heard a rotor blade in the air. They followed Maduro’s routines, figured out how his compound really worked, and had someone close enough to his inner circle to know exactly where he’d be at a specific moment. You don’t get that from a satellite photo. You get it from people on the inside, people who wake up every day knowing one wrong move could get them killed, and from analysts who can separate real signals from bad chatter. By the time the go-order came down, no one was still asking if Maduro was there. The only question left was how quickly U.S. forces could get in, grab him, and get out.

     That’s when Delta Force steps in, and that’s when all the planning turns real. These guys didn’t show up to scare anyone or make a point. They showed up to put hands on the target. Before dawn, with strikes hitting around Caracas to keep things off balance, they hit the compound hard, pushed through resistance, and took both Maduro and his wife into custody. There were no talks and no waiting around. Everyone involved knew exactly what the job was, and it was carried out fast and forcefully, with zero room for doubt about how it was going to end.

     What matters to me is that this wasn’t a loose collaboration. It was a handoff. Intelligence built the target. Delta Force closed it. That division is intentional. Delta’s entire selection and training pipeline is designed around making decisions under extreme stress, clearing rooms with hostages present, breaching fortified structures, and adapting when the plan breaks on first contact. These are people trained to move through chaos without freezing, because freezing gets someone killed. When they went through that compound, they weren’t improvising from scratch. They were applying a system that’s been refined across decades of hostage rescues, manhunts, and counterterrorism raids.

     There’s no way around it, an operation like this comes with a political bill, and anyone saying otherwise isn’t being straight. Dragging a foreign leader out of his own country sends a message that travels fast and far. It tells enemies that a title and a border won’t save them, and it tells allies that the U.S. will move when it thinks the stakes are high enough. But that kind of muscle only works if it’s used carefully and backed by real credibility. Get the call wrong, trust bad intelligence, and the backlash wouldn’t just be loud, it would be brutal.

     This tension between precision and consequence is something I explore in my Corey Pearson CIA Spymaster Series. Corey and his team often operate in spaces where the U.S. cannot afford to be seen, and when their covert work goes sideways, the CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC) steps in with operators who often come from Delta Force backgrounds. The dynamic is the same. Intelligence identifies the threat. SAC provides the muscle when diplomacy and deniability collide. It’s not about heroics. It’s about containment.

     What the Maduro operation really drives home is how tightly the CIA and Delta Force are tied together when things turn dangerous on the ground. CIA officers are often out front, running sources, moving quietly, and pushing missions as far as they can without lighting a fuse. But when a situation starts to unravel or turns lethal, Delta Force is the backstop. They don’t kick doors for the sake of it. They show up because the intelligence says the target is real and the people on the ground need immediate, decisive backup. The CIA takes risks because it knows there’s a last line behind them that can step in fast and finish the job.

     That’s why this dynamic shows up so clearly in the Corey Pearson books. Corey survives not because his plans are perfect, but because when everything goes sideways, SAC operators with Delta Force backgrounds arrive to pull his team out of the fire. They’re not invincible. They’re just disciplined, ruthless about the mission, and fully aware of what failure would mean for the people they’re there to protect.

     In the end, America’s national security rests on this quiet bond between the CIA and Delta Force working the way it’s supposed to. When intelligence officers build a clear, reliable picture and SAC and Delta Force operators move fast and decisively, missions get done with precision and Americans stay out of harm’s way, often without ever knowing how close the danger really was.

     That partnership is one of the country’s greatest strengths. But it only holds if U.S. leaders think beyond the raid itself. Taking down ruthless, despotic figures is one thing. Failing to plan for what comes next is another. Without serious attention to the political aftermath, even the cleanest operation can open the door to instability and blowback. Let’s hope Venezuela doesn’t turn into chaos as a result.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His work offers readers an insider’s glimpse into the world of espionage, inspired by the complexities and high-stakes realities of the intelligence community.

Why POTUS Must Never Skip Intelligence Briefings—A Spy Thriller’s Take

 

Trump views a PDB intelligence update as national security decisions loom

If you follow politics even casually, you might’ve caught a Politico headline that slipped by with barely a ripple: President Trump has sat for only 12 “daily” intelligence briefings since taking office. Twelve. In roughly 100 days. That’s not just a scheduling quirk. It’s a red flag.

     At first, it almost sounded like a technicality. But the more I thought about it—and the more I compared it to the world I write in—the more it stopped feeling like policy and started feeling personal.

     Because the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) isn’t just paperwork. It’s the frontline defense between Americans and the next national crisis.

     In the Corey Pearson – CIA Spymaster Series, the PDB is treated like what it truly is: a weapon against surprise. One of the most gripping scenes in the series has Corey walking into the Oval Office beside the CIA Director to brief President Rheinhart. It’s not a photo-op or a stiff routine. It’s strategic. Urgent. Life-and-death.

     The fictional PDB they lay on the desk is lean—no fluff, no noise, no half-baked theories. It’s a distilled threat map of the world, with Corey interpreting signals that others missed. Signals pulled from HUMINT assets, satellite intel, cyber activity, and historical patterns. The CIA Director doesn’t sugarcoat a thing. Rheinhart listens, interrupts, challenges, and questions—because real leadership engages with real threats.

     That scene might be fictional. But the principles behind it are not.

     For decades, every American president has relied on the PDB to understand the world’s most pressing threats—foreign military moves, espionage networks, terrorism chatter, cyber intrusions, hostile influence campaigns. Stuff you and I will never see—but stuff we absolutely depend on someone reading.

     Which is why Trump’s disinterest in the PDB is more than just unconventional. It’s reckless.

     Instead of the in-person briefings that prior presidents prioritized—think Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, Obama—reporting suggests Trump preferred visuals, short summaries, and minimal engagement. No depth. No context. Often, no direct briefing at all. As if complex global threats could be handled like a PowerPoint deck.

     Meanwhile, in the fictional world I write, those same threats are taken seriously enough to justify covert action. That trust—between the intelligence community and President Rheinhart—is what prevents wars, stops attacks, and saves American lives before anyone even knows they were at risk.

     Here in the real world? Threats don’t pause just because someone’s too busy for a meeting. Russia’s war machine grinds forward. China plays the long game in tech and territory. Iran tests boundaries. Cyber threats evolve daily. These aren’t cable news plotlines. They shape fuel prices, hack elections, trigger supply chain chaos, and shake military readiness.

     And it’s not just about being "informed." It’s about being prepared. You can’t lead a country on instinct alone. Intelligence matters. Systems matter. The analysts behind those briefings? They’ve spent entire careers learning how to detect lies, connect dots, and flag subtle patterns before they explode into chaos.

     When President Rheinhart in my Corey Pearson – CIA Spymaster Series challenges an intel briefing, it’s not because he doubts the CIA—it’s because he wants to understand the risk deeper. Because decisions only get better when the people making them actually show up for the hard conversations.

     That’s why the contrast matters so much. Because when the real-world commander-in-chief skips that briefing—or treats it like background noise—it sends a message. To adversaries, it looks like distraction. To allies, it looks like disengagement. And to career intelligence professionals who have dedicated their lives to keeping this country safe, it feels like betrayal.

     And honestly? It’s not theoretical.

     We’ve already seen what happens when intelligence warnings are brushed aside. Think 9/11. Think election interference. Think massive data breaches that exposed millions. In most of those cases, it wasn’t that the intelligence didn’t exist. It was that it wasn’t taken seriously enough.

     I keep imagining a moment—one that’s all too plausible—where an urgent warning about an attack or cyber strike sits unopened. Not because the system failed, but because someone at the top chose not to read it.

     In my fiction, that’s the moment Corey Pearson goes straight to the Oval, no appointment needed. Because the stakes are too high. Because the President demands answers. Because in that universe, the PDB isn’t paperwork. It’s prevention.

     And maybe that’s why I write it that way. Because that’s the leadership I want to imagine.

     Not every problem can be solved by spies and satellites. But if we’re going to face what’s out there, we need leaders who listen to the people trained to see it coming.

     If that kind of behind-the-scenes intelligence drama hits a nerve with you, you’re not alone. Sometimes, fiction gives us the space to explore what the real world could—and should—look like.

 

Robert Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He also writes the Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster Series, which blends his knowledge of real-life intelligence operations with gripping fictional storytelling. His thrillers reveal the shadowy world of covert missions and betrayal with striking realism.