A thrilling first-hand account by the husband-and-wife operatives who rebuilt the CIA's most important network of sources in Asia after its sudden collapse in 2011 - an intelligence disaster that espionage services around the world have transformed into a new, cutting-edge form of spycraft.
Andrew and Jihi Bustamante are a husband-and-wife spy duo whose lives revolved around the CIA. They met as trainees at Langley, Virginia, and built a family together while hunting terrorists across the globe. But in 2010, they were pulled off the anti-terrorism desk for an even bigger assignment: to head to Asia, where the CIA's spy network in the superpower that the Bustamantes code-named JADE KINGDOM - one of America's most formidable rivals - had recently vanished, dismantled practically overnight in a series of brutal murders and quiet disappearances. With the CIA's most important Asian spy network in ashes, the US had been thrust into darkness just as its competition with JADE KINGDOM was entering a new, even more dangerous, phase.
Although not regional experts, the Bustamantes brought to the table a granular understanding of how terrorist cells operate, and how to take them out. Now, along with a rag-tag team of CIA operatives, they set about building a cell of their own - right at the heart of JADE KINGDOM. The pressure on the Bustamantes was intense: it was only a matter of time before America's intelligence blackout led to a wider cataclysm. As they were racing against the clock, a mole deep within the US intelligence community threatened their entire operation, leading to a dramatic cat-and-mouse game on the heavily surveilled streets of JADE KINGDOM's capital city.
The thrilling, untold tale of one of history's greatest intelligence failures and the unlikely band of agents who were sent in to clean up the mess, Red Cell is also the tale of how a couple of outside-the-box thinkers pioneered a bold new way of spying-one that today has been adopted throughout Western intelligence services to meet the national security challenges of the next century. A story so secret it still can't be told in full, Red Cell allows us to peer behind the curtain to see how one of the biggest spy wars in the world is currently being fought - and won.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A thrilling first-hand account by husband-and-wife CIA operatives who, against all odds, triumphed in a deadly cat-and-mouse game against a mole within the intelligence agency - an unprecedented insider view of 21st-century spycraft.
Andrew and Jihi Bustamante were a 'tandem couple': married spies who'd dedicated their lives to the CIA. They met as trainees at Langley, and got married while hunting terrorists across the globe. Then, suddenly, they were assigned to a mission so sensitive and explosive that the CIA has still never acknowledged it. The CIA's source network in a country code-named 'Falcon' - one of America's most formidable rivals - had been compromised by a mole, and the agency needed a new way to collect intelligence there. Young newlyweds the Bustamantes were considered safe choices for this daunting task precisely because they had no experience in Falcon. They were also loyal, forgettable, and completely disposable - operatives who could help to strengthen the CIA's position in Falcon while simultaneously serving as bait for the mole.
But although their superiors at the CIA didn't realize it, the Bustamantes also brought another advantage to the table: a granular understanding of how terrorist cells operate, and how the agency could exploit those same tactics to keep the West safe. Assembling a rag-tag team of fellow operatives and recruiting new sources from Falcon, the Bustamantes pioneered a new way of spying by building a cell of their own, right at the heart of the CIA.
The propulsive, untold tale of one of history's greatest intelligence crises and the unlikely band of agents who were sent in to clean up the mess, Shadow Cell allows us to peer behind the curtain to see how today's spy wars are being fought - and won.
