The Company We Keep
Read The Company We Keep Online
Authors: Robert Baer
THE COMPANY WE KEEP
“I learned of the legendary Bob Baer upon my arrival at the CIA in 1998, where he was much revered. ‘This is the kind of officer you
want
to be,’ neophyte spies like me were told.…
This extraordinary new book
,
The Company We Keep
,
by Baer and his wife, Dayna, a CIA-trained shooter and surveillance operative, shows the Baers’ ultimate triumph over the isolation inherent in their professions and the banality of bureaucracy worldwide.”
—L
INDSAY
M
ORAN
, author of
Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy
“Will illuminate the dark world of intelligence gathering that very few people ever see
. It’s filled with ground truth, tradecraft, and operational details.…
You will not be disappointed.”
—F
RED
B
URTON
, VP Intelligence, STRATFOR, and author of
Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent
“A cross between voyeurism and adventure, this book takes us through the emotional, poignant, and often dangerous lives of two CIA operatives:
the fear, the violence, the requisite suspicion, and the tenuous friendships.…
It’s especially intriguing to follow a woman into dark corners, thrilling missions, and psychologically difficult moments.”
—R
ITA
G
OLDEN
G
ELMAN
, author of
Tales of a Female Nomad
“Vivid and revealing … A look inside the real CIA.”
—D
AVID
W
ISE
, author of
Spy
See No Evil
Sleeping with the Devil
The Devil We Know
Copyright © 2011 by Robert B. Baer and Dayna Baer
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baer, Robert.
The company we keep / Robert and Dayna Baer.—1st. ed.
p. cm.
1. Baer, Robert. 2. Baer, Dayna. 3. United States. Central Intelligence Agency—Biography. 4. Intelligence officers—United States—Biography. 5. Spies—United States—Biography. 6. Husband and wife—United States I. Baer,
Dayna. II. Title.
JK468.I6.B33 2010
327.12730092′2—dc22
[B] 2010019829
eISBN: 978-0-307-58816-6
Map by Mapping Specialists
Jacket design by Howard Grossman
v3.1
All events in the story are true. However, to protect “sources and methods,” the names of operatives and informants have been changed, and their identities blurred beyond recognition. For instance, we describe the organization that “Yuri” works for as the Russian KGB, although by 1991 the KGB had been dissolved into multiple organizations. The term
parabolic mic
substitutes for a device that is still classified. The names of the people who helped with the adoption have been changed because they belong to Pakistan’s imperiled Christian minority. Special thanks goes to our editor, Rick Horgan, who first saw the possibility of this book, and whipped it into the shape it needed to be in. The CIA has reviewed the book to ensure that it contains no classified information.
The bottom line is: There aren’t any textbooks on spying, you have to invent as you go along
.
—Robert Littell
,
The Company: A Novel of the CIA
PROLOGUE