Facebook, and we want to hear from you. Tweet us, twitter. Com booktv or boast a comment post a comment on our facebook page, facebook. Com booktv. Coming up next, jack devine talks about his 32year career with the Central Intelligence agency to arm the huge that deeb in afghanistan and was involved in the iran contra a affair. This event was hosted by the association of former intelligence officers. Its just over an hour. Good afternoon, everybody. For those of you who have not purchased the book, you need to go out and buy the book. For those of you who already have a book in your possession, you need to turn to the photographs. [laughter] and find a wonderful photo of jack devine, a much younger, slimmer, longerhaired jack devine undercover in santiago, chile. Not for the inhouse audience, but for the athome audience, i am going to read just a little from the the happenedbill so handbill so those at home can follow along with us. Many consider jack devine to be one of the legendary spymasters of our time. He was in chile, he ran Charlie Wilsons war in afghanistan, he had far much to do with iran contra for his own taste, and he actually tried to stop it at one point. He caught Pablo Escobar in colombia. He tried to warn george tenet that there was a bullet coming back at him for iraq. In 1986 he walked into our director, bill casey, and said we had a tremendous breakthrough yesterday, we deployed the stinger missile and shot down three helicopters. Mr. Devine is a 32year career officer with the cia. He began in the 1960s. He has a brand new book out called good hunting which is on sale today, and hell be glad to sign copies after todays session. Hell also take q a. Jack devine was already an established Field Operations officer when i joined cia, and if you can keep a secret, ill share a little bit of history with this small, intimate room. [laughter] jack devine was the kind of Clandestine Services officer that i wanted to be when i grew up. Please join me in welcoming jack devine. [applause] what jim really meant to say at the end of that, he wanted to be like me because of that picture. [laughter] and those of you that have gone to see american hustle, they are plaid pants. I had long hair and a moustache, and i could have easily at that point in time played in the role of american hustle. The fortunate thing and by design, i didnt put the color in there but they were bright yellow. And i believe peter sort of tormented me once saying do you still have pants for the museum . [laughter] you cant tell a book by its cover, and this isnt because of vanity. I love the cover of the book. And if you look at it, one of my employees took the book home and showed it to her young daughter, and she said, well, mommy, i thought he was a nice man. [laughter] and with a book you have to have some fun, and theres some private jokes in here. The picture with the pants is funny because ive often heard how can you be a spy at 65 . Those of you, and theres a lot of practitioners in here and its wonderful to see them all, its not about what you look like or your size, you get et done in the ip visible ip visible invisible space that exists. That was sort of a private joke. But the picture has some roots that go back in my career. And as i said, i always thought i was a pretty affable person. One day when i was in a Central American sort of country because i cant say which country but the ambassador was going up the elevator, former chief of station in south vietnam, last one out. And tom said to the ambassador, you know, i want to send devine out for that task, and the ambassador said you dont mean that big, sinisterlooking guy . [laughter] so i went home and i mentioned this to my wife, and i said you wont believe what the ambassador said, this big, sinisterlooking guy. And she said well, jack, if i walked in and saw your face and doesnt know you in your office didnt know you in your office, id turn around and walk out. [laughter] so i went to this fellow in this room that i believe had his back to me, and i said, jerry [laughter] you know, what do you think . And he said, well, jack, do you ever see how you make a point . [laughter] so, however, what it really gets to in a way is the roleplaying that operators undertake in their mission. And if you fast forward when i was running Latin American Division in the 199092 period, as you remember, president clinton wanted to rethe dictators remove the dictators in haiti. And tony like tony lake was the director, and he called me down and said, look, we want you to go down and tell the dictator to get out of town. Now, this speaks to my iq. I thought it was a great idea. [laughter] to go to this country. The chief down there, however, and ill add a little note on him at the end, but so i went down, and the office had a report that chief of police at the time had gone out to the voodoo doctor and put some powder on him. And he came because he was fearful, god knows why. But the when i went down, he came to the chiefs house. It was just the three of us, and there was water. He wouldnt touch the water. And then for those of you that engaged in poisoning, you realize that pumpkin soup is one of best things to disguise poison in. In comes the maid with pumpkin soup. [laughter] so i thought he was going to the die on the spot. Now, when you get instructions from the white house on your script thats used as it was in this case, now you say this, and he will say that. Then you say this, and he says that. Ive never been in an operational meeting where you can script it that way. And im irish, so when i, when i went down to the room i decided bad jack has to show up. So he was seated at dinner, and i said, look, i want to tell you a story that a latin friend of mine told me. The latin friend said, you know, you americans are like that train roaring down the track, and were the latins in the middle of the track, and we see you coming, and we puff out our chest, and we say bring it on. And theres a very important lesson if youre working in latin america. So i thought that was just the right poetic thing to lean across and say you do not want to be that rooster. Now, i thought i made my point, but it wasnt tonys script, and they didnt leave even though i had a large bag and and the menacing message. And a week later jimmy carter was at the table negotiating with the general, and they were not budging. And he received a message from the president of the United States saying you should leave the meeting. And he kept jawboning. And we were ready, the cia was ready with its covert action capabilities, and the planes were taking off from the runway in florida, and the spotter notified the negotiators, and they folded on the spot. And the dictator and chief of police specifically went to florida. Where else would you go if youre a dictator and youre on the run . He got on the radio and said they sent this menacing guy down who threatened to kill me, my wife and my children. Now, i promise you, i never said anything about the wife and children. [laughter] so what im getting at is, you know, there is a roleplaying. I did a little piece for homeland, the tv show. Not the show itself, but a promotional piece. And you know youve arrived in new york when youre in that 30 second thing in the back of a cab, and that was where it was. But one of the questions in the interview was how much is covert not covert action, how much is operational work like an actor . And i never thought about the question. But it is true, when you deal with foreign governments and foreign liaison and youre dealing with assets and agents, you really do need to act, and you have to be a good one. If you get beyond well, we should stick with the cover. I love, took me two years. Again, theres an iq issue to come up with two words good hunting. And i dont need to explain it to people in the room, but its a very old adage used by operators. And i think the first point where i see it noted in history is in kiplings jungle book. But if you look to some of the classic world war ii black and white movies and there was one, frankly, i named it before i saw this. They were breaking up the meeting, and the parting solly was good hunting. And i know i have signed memos where theres a certain point in an operation where you say good hunting. I thought that captured a key part of the business whether its hunting for a source of information or hunting for bin laden or hunting for Pablo Escobar, its the, you know, a key part of our business. And then you did the paramilitary training, you were free post world war ii, you had to jump out of the plane. 6869 was optional. Hi was married with three kids, three weeks of fact of all of this and i am out of here so i said to my wife i think i and just going to go to the beach. She said you will miss all the camaraderie. I said i like them as time goes by. I am going to enjoy the beach. Then i went and he said it is better than sex and he said okay, this is getting interesting. I took a second look at him. He is missing something. When i applied for different offices and didnt know any better any better at a covert action, it took place in the line division. Covert action, i went in and there was probably parachuting memorabilia and i walked in, have you jump yet . It is the greatest thing man can do. No, but i am looking forward to it. Not for camaraderie but for career i would jump out of a plane. I did that five times and i will assure you i had that wrong. But i didnt excel in demolitions either. Chris is here. We were down for demolition. They came out with an instructor missing a couple fingers. He said it is dangerous dealing with explosives. I got it. You didnt have to speak any more. Than you blow up polls and they are detonating cords and they burned at a certain rate. I dont remember is the rate and they would have six seven polls. I always thought to myself, a couple more inches to give yourself more time. Poll one would go, paul 2 would go, 4, 5, they would go, they didnt think it was funny as i did. And in my file somewhere it said this man should not be allowed near explosives. In 1986 i was responsible for more explosives than anybody, so it was a necessarily direct but the last thing was the flesh can. Today with electronics, you dont think about physical brush pants but i was in mary kantors district and had to i had a beautiful thing, it was wonderful, couldnt see it from any angle so i had my hand ready, slate of hand and the instructor went by and didnt put his hand out so when i got to the bottom of the steps, i am a gentleman but i didnt engage in a really gross hand wrestle. Dont have to worry too much about it. When i got back to camp, they said we have a treat and the treat is for the first time, we video the brush pans today. Who could pass off the first line is the first one. I reporter that skill. I was in amsterdam with my wife tweet 2 years ago and bill weiner was being particularly solicitous. We have a little more wine so i gave him the 20yearold pass. Any new yorker would be proud but you know your wife, you look across and you know something is fundamentally wrong. A half smile means trouble. Would you doing . To brush past but you left it to our waiter. Anyway. Things got quite serious actors that. It was great fun. I feel nostalgia pecans so many folks are here from my past but i ended up the very first assignment, the most fortunate experience from an operation. There were two places in the world that were high priority, one was vietnam and the other was chilly and the reason it was so important was the nixon himself, henry kissinger, felt in the cold war so many of our children and grandchildren talk about the colewort is talking about other things. So nixon viewed it as a red cent which. She lay was the secochile was t communist party in world. Yen they was elected with the plurality but in a very democratic country with the democratic history. So an instruction went from the white house to the agency to the field station chief who is long dead and gone like to mention, a great operator, european officer. He wrote back a cable saying it cant be done. We dont have the infrastructure, not enough Popular Support and it is going to be very messy and the response came back give it a good college try, put in government language but that was that. They gave it their best shot and it ended up a disaster. It was the road group not tied to the cia that tried to kidnap the commanderinchief of the armed forces and kill him in the process and the entire country turns in favor of yende. There are a couple lessons but i think i want to make a key point right here. Many people confuse the chile coup that took place in 73 with thatd venture. Next cables that came said cease and desist, you will not plot with the military and that state in a vote until the entire yende administration. In 1973 in september, in june there was a mini coo and the cias official position after it that, highly intoxicated teen drivers drove in front of the palace, the commanderinchief went and talked to the guy. Our analysis of the agency was clearly the military stood behind the constitution and would not overthrow yende and that was in late june. What happened, we found out only later that it was that moment that the chilean military went back and started wasnt about the constitution, wasnt about yendes economic policies. They were afraid they were losing the discipline of military ranks and faber going to take charge of the coup. Has circumstances would have it, i received the first report that notified the u. S. Government that the yende government was going to be overthrown three days before and i did not even receive the poll, it went to my wife who knew this s and said i am at the airport and i am leaving. There will be a coup on sept. Eleventh. I was dragged out of a restaurant to get that message. That was the first time. Three days before we learned yende was going to be overthrown and there was the second report. At that point we sent in a message and everyone was well aware of, the rest of the store you know. What surprised everybody, all the opposition partners, i should note we didnt work with the military to overthrow yende but we contributed and i worked at the newspapers for my party and friends it to support the opposition but that is quite different. We contribute to the environment, yes, what was the weight of its . In my analysis, the government really fell on its own. Its economic conditions, policies and my expectation was we had gone to an election, yende would have lost and we might have had a different outcome. Went pineche came to power, we were not expecting it. Chile was a democratic country, they bring water and there would be an election. You couldnt find anybody who would tell you if they would be around for 19 years and then the humanrights violations which were huge, that surprised everyone. Took us a while to find out about it and when we did the relationship killed. When i was getting ready to leave the new chief said you have been here long time. What do you think . Right a memo. Iman advocate of covert action and i will come back to that in a minute so i wrote i had the long hair and hands and i said we will use covert action to get rid of pineche so that is where my mind was and i wasnt alone on that. So i think in the world out there there is a view the weaver strong supporters of pineche, that wasnt true. Foreign Affairs Magazine which comes out next week takes the chile chapter and reduces it to the length of the article and it is titled what really happened in four different places . It is such a hotbutton even today that it surprises me. I got ahead of myself in a way because this book isnt about the heavy into the espionage part. You can really write about it because so many of the agents cant write about agents, this is about the action and for those, not audience like this but over the years people get confused between covert and clandestine. You all note covert is the james bond never meet an agent, never take a report, never do an accounting and the espionage is plodding along, getting his agents, handling the darkness so the two different types. This is the action part. Not only do i believe it is the central part, i believe it is going to be and should be at major role of statehood. The stimulus for the book came because theres another author were not going to mention because we dont want to promote his book, but when he wrote his book, saying the agency was a rogue element and covert action never works i was inspired, that is a nice word, to see if we couldnt point out the cia made up a lot of very fine people and action not only works but needs to be applied. Someone will have questions about where we are today, but that is one of the key things in the book. On sean connery and covert action, i was in an undisclosed country. Dont google, you will find where it was, i was sitting in this restaurant and in walks sean connery and i was with my wife. And the head of the service. There was fluttering in the room, all of the women and some of the men. I will blame the other service chiefs, he said we are the real thing and they both broke out laughing saying you have got to be kidding there is 007, you are justly to bureaucrats we have been married to for a long time. It used to annoy me, those movies but let me move on. I cant get bogged down in things. I went to other latin american assignment and because they are in the collection area i cant really talk about them in detail, theres no reason to. I can write this book, there is a young man here who is going out to the field and i used to remind people when you do covert action, in your lifetime, you will have a chance. I never thought back then, covert action becomes something. So i was assigned to the iran branch, 1985, i wanted a change of pace. As jim mentioned early on. I just got the iran branch, i knew very little about iran. And time mentioned him that he has been scratched. At that time i got a call from but European Division chief is it your going to be called by the director and a few minutes. Great. You dont get a call every day at the branch. And wind into the room and said we want you to go out and meet a contractor with the white house and he has a source who is really valuable and can tell us information about the hostages in beirut so i went out but i went downstairs and there is my deputy holding a two inch file and he said jack, this is bad news. We have a burn notice out, two sets of polygraphs, he is an arms merchant. We shouldnt be touching this. God bless the deputies. When i wrote the book there were 80 people we interviewed. Some arent in the book because their family members are tied to the agency and cause problems. Some didnt say anything worthwhile. There are a lot of people being interviewed so i called him because we were doing iran and i called the man turned them over to one of the folks in my office so you have an independent, non chatty discussion sticking to the message. I remember calling this fellow and i had spoken to him for 25 years and he came off of the tractor. You on the tractor