David McCloskey

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David McCloskey
BornMinnesota, USA
OccupationWriter, CIA analyst, consultant
Alma mater Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Period2021 -
Genre spy fiction
Website
www.davidmccloskeybooks.com

David McCloskey is an American writer of spy fiction and podcast host. He is a former staff member of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Contents

Early life

McCloskey was born in Minnesota. [1] He majored in international studies at Wheaton College [2] [3] , and holds a M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where he specialised in energy policy and the Middle East. [4]

Career

He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for six years as an analyst on Syria. He was stationed across the Middle East, and regularly contributed to intelligence briefings for the White House. He left the CIA in 2016 and worked as a consultant for McKinsey, advising clients from the aerospace and transportation sectors on security issues. [4] [5]

He has stated that he started writing fiction partly as a way to mentally process his time at the CIA. His first novel Damascus Station was published in 2021, and tells the story of a CIA operative in Syria during the Assad regime. [1] His novels have received generally positive reviews, and have been widely translated. [3]

Since 2024, he is the co-host of the Goalhanger podcast The rest is classified, which he presents with British journalist Gordon Corera.

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 Hoskin, Peter. "Meet David McCloskey, America's answer to John le Carré". www.prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  2. ↑ Murphy, By S. Holland (2022-02-14). "The Marvelous McCloskeys". D Magazine. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  3. 1 2 College, Wheaton. "Agent to Author". Wheaton College. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  4. 1 2 "An IACSP Q&A With David McCloskey, Former CIA Analyst And Author Of The CIA Thriller "The Seventh Floor." – IACSP Journal". 2025-06-09. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  5. ↑ ""Damascus Station" — A Book Talk and Conversation on Middle East Security with Former CIA Analyst David McCloskey | LBJ School of Public Affairs". lbj.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  6. ↑ Goodman, Robert (2023-04-17). "Damascus Station (David McCloskey) - book review -". The Blurb. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  7. ↑ "Spies Like Us: On David McCloskey's "Moscow X"". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2024-03-23. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  8. ↑ Rosenheim, Andrew (2025-01-14). "A mole in the CIA: The Seventh Floor, by David McCloskey, reviewed". The Spectator. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
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