SPYEX consultant Rodney Faraon shot to the top during his 15-year CIA career, working on the President’s Daily Brief and speech writing for former Agency director George Tenet.
When Rodney Faraon was in high school in the ‘80s, Tom Clancy had just published The Hunt for Red October and Rodney was determined to be an analyst like Jack Ryan.
“I was good at writing. I liked history. I liked international relations. I thought, ‘This is a great opportunity for me to contribute to this national security mission’,” Rodney told the SPYSCAPE Festival. “The other reason I wanted to join the CIA is… because it’s f***ing cool.”
Throughout his 15-year career, Rodney also discovered the Agency was a challenging place to work with security threats of all kinds. It certainly had its Jack Ryan moments, particularly when Rodney was posted to Asia.
Spies and Surveillance
Rodney was stationed in East Asia after 9/11 where he designed counterterrorism programs and managed foreign intelligence relationships. He learned a lot about surveillance while working abroad for three years.
“There can be these slow-motion car chases which is when an officer goes out on the street and into the field and has to determine whether or not they are being surveilled by a foreign, hostile intelligence service,” Rodney said. “You will be doing what is called a ‘surveillance detection route’ to try to see if someone is following you - and, if that’s the case, you will probably abort the mission and not risk identifying your asset by meeting them.”
It’s a long way from Kansas where Rodney was born. He grew up in Iowa before moving to Washington, D.C. where he studied at Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service. After joining the CIA, Rodney worked on the President’s Daily Brief team and was also the briefer and speechwriter for former CIA Director George Tenet for which Rodney received the Director’s Medal.
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
SPYEX consultant Rodney Faraon shot to the top during his 15-year CIA career, working on the President’s Daily Brief and speech writing for former Agency director George Tenet.
When Rodney Faraon was in high school in the ‘80s, Tom Clancy had just published The Hunt for Red October and Rodney was determined to be an analyst like Jack Ryan.
“I was good at writing. I liked history. I liked international relations. I thought, ‘This is a great opportunity for me to contribute to this national security mission’,” Rodney told the SPYSCAPE Festival. “The other reason I wanted to join the CIA is… because it’s f***ing cool.”
Throughout his 15-year career, Rodney also discovered the Agency was a challenging place to work with security threats of all kinds. It certainly had its Jack Ryan moments, particularly when Rodney was posted to Asia.
Spies and Surveillance
Rodney was stationed in East Asia after 9/11 where he designed counterterrorism programs and managed foreign intelligence relationships. He learned a lot about surveillance while working abroad for three years.
“There can be these slow-motion car chases which is when an officer goes out on the street and into the field and has to determine whether or not they are being surveilled by a foreign, hostile intelligence service,” Rodney said. “You will be doing what is called a ‘surveillance detection route’ to try to see if someone is following you - and, if that’s the case, you will probably abort the mission and not risk identifying your asset by meeting them.”
It’s a long way from Kansas where Rodney was born. He grew up in Iowa before moving to Washington, D.C. where he studied at Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service. After joining the CIA, Rodney worked on the President’s Daily Brief team and was also the briefer and speechwriter for former CIA Director George Tenet for which Rodney received the Director’s Medal.
So what qualities do top analysts and intelligence officers share? Rodney breaks it down into the Four C’s - i) curiosity, an innate, inquisitive nature and a desire to learn more; ii) critical thinking to evaluate whether information is accurate; iii) creativity and the imagination to explain certain situations even without all of the information, and; iv) good communication skills.
An understanding of cyber is also important, including the ability to discern good open-source information from bad, and how to use AI to piece it together. “If you don’t understand how to use data, then you’re still stuck in the 20th century. You’re not ready for a 21st-century career in intel.”
At the end of the day, an intelligence analyst’s role is to make objective assessments of raw information and present it to policymakers. That means they also need to be brave enough to tell VIPs what they need to hear - aka, ‘telling truth to power’.
Katherine Heigl stars in State of Affairs, exec produced by Rodney Faraon
Spies Like Us?
Working as a CIA analyst was a dream job in many ways but Rodney was lured away by the undercover world of business intelligence and political risk, and the bright lights of Hollywood. He’s written draft scripts for movies and television as well as being the executive producer of State of Affairs starring Katherine Heigl as Charleston Tucker, a CIA analyst and President's Daily Brief (PDB) briefer.
It seems Hollywood and Langley HQ have a few things in common. Rodney’s favorite on-screen espionage operators include Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) as a field officer working in CIA's Near East Division in Body of Lies, and bookish CIA analyst Joe Turner from Three Days of the Condor.
As for Jack Ryan, Rodney is still a fan. “The question here is not just Jack Ryan but which Jack Ryan? Is it John Krasinski? Is it Chris Pine? Is it Ben Affleck?” Rodney muses, finally leaning toward an old-school favorite. “It’s got to be Harrison Ford. That’s my guy.”
***
SPYEX consultant Rodney Faraon is an expert on security, foreign policy, risk, politics, China, and entertainment. He can be booked at SPYEX.com to appear at events or consult on business projects.
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
Gadgets & Gifts
Put your spy skills to work with these fabulous choices from secret notepads & invisible inks to Hacker hoodies & high-tech handbags. We also have an exceptional range of rare spy books, including many signed first editions.
We all have valuable spy skills - your mission is to discover yours. See if you have what it takes to be a secret agent, with our authentic spy skills evaluation* developed by a former Head of Training at British Intelligence. It's FREE so share & compare with friends now!
.jpg)
.jpg)
