The Cold War was over by the time US State Department Psychiatrist Kenneth Dekleva arrived in Russia in the early 2000s. The KGB was disbanded but Moscow was still a hardship post. US Embassy staff were watched 24/7 with audio and video surveillance at home and minders on the streets. Occasionally, Russia’s secret police would even break into their apartments.

In one instance, a Moscow diplomat had a family member who was being treated in the US for a serious illness. He arrived home to find a Post-it Note: “How’s your wife?”

The intimidation was designed to pressure the Americans to leave - ‘get off the X', in espionage parlance - and the Russians were world-class experts at it. Dr. Dekleva recalled counseling embassy staff about coping strategies and even found the surveillance exasperating himself at times. “Yes, like everyone. It’s annoying,” Dekleva admits, but he deflected it with humor.

“Once I was hosting a guest from Washington and the surveillance team was waiting at the airport with me. And they came up to me and spoke English and said, “Can I be of help to you? Who are you waiting for?” And I knew who they were, so I didn’t get stressed out. I said, “That’s so kind of you.” I spoke Russian. I softened my voice. I told them: ‘Your help is so deeply appreciated. But I’ve been here before. Can you give me your card in case I need further help?’ And I gave him a card and they disappeared.”

“You have to know how to deal with the surveillance. The bottom line is, you don’t want to alienate them and make them angry.”

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Kenneth Dekleva: a life of secrets and spies

Dekleva is a master of the spying game. As an expert profiler, he spent years sizing up leaders from Vladimir Putin to China’s Xi Jinping so he knows which buttons to push during negotiations and how to interpret a strategic move. Dekleva is also hands-on, having spent 14 years circling the globe for the State Department before leaving to open his own practice.

While living in Mexico, Dekleva worked with the US Drug Enforcement Agency agents who hunt down drug cartels alongside the Mexican authorities. “Every DEA regional office has a photo of Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, who was tortured and murdered in 1985 in Guadalajara, so they never forget,” Dekleva said.

“The trauma and challenges of working in those environments is very real, so they appreciated that I would come by.”

Mexico City. Moscow. Haiti. Kabul. Karachi, Pakistan. If there was trouble brewing in a foreign hotspot, Dekleva was never far behind. He traveled to more than 70 countries picking up the pieces after terrorist attacks, nuclear meltdowns, and natural disasters. When a 9.1-magnitude earthquake triggered off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in 2004, he deployed to Sri Lanka where 30,000 people died, including Americans. “The Consular Service was overwhelmed by thousands of calls from people saying, ‘I can’t find my loved ones.’” 

During his two years in Afghanistan, some of the US team found it difficult to open up after a bombing but they’d invite him out later for a drink. “You go sit outside the hooch and talk to these secretive IT guys, commo (communications) guys… They’ll say, ‘Well, my kid’s not doing well. Why do you think that is?’ And then you can provide support and normalize a lot of the stress reactions that people have.”

Doesn’t the trauma flatten him as well sometimes? Dekleva admits to a few chinks in the armor and a few dangerous tangles with hostile spies in foreign countries but his unusual childhood prepared him for life in the shadows.

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Living the California dream ‍

Dekleva grew up in California, the child of immigrants who fled Communist Yugoslavia and later post-WWII Germany. “When you have parents from that space, living that kind of history, it is part of an everyday dinner conversation.” He learned about communism and war at a tender age. His first language was Slovene, a South Slavic language. He studied French in high school and then Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and Russian.

By the age of 14, Kenneth was rock climbing and hitchhiking through Slovenia. He traveled across Yugoslavia at age 17. “I had a very adventuresome spirit and a wanderlust.”

Dekleva loved learning and books but not sitting behind a desk so after medical school in Dallas he called up the State Department and got patched through to Dr. Esther Roberts, director of the mental health division. She told him to complete five years of his residency, then “come back and talk to us.” He liked what he heard.

Dr. Roberts, who’d later become a friend and mentor, was one of three State Department psychiatrists who flew to Germany to debrief 52 American hostages released by Iran in 1981, the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. (The hostage drama was later portrayed in the Oscar-winning film Argo.)

Texas: A springboard to the world‍

Dekleva pushed his State Department dream aside for a few years to work in the criminal justice system as a forensic psychiatrist specializing in capital murder penalty trials. “I spent my whole day seeing criminals as patients,” he recalled. “So I have a head full of experiences and memories.”

In the late ‘90s, he got back in touch with the State Department. His medical and background checks were finally completed in the months after 9/11. Dekleva was 45 years old and the next chapter of his life was about to begin. “I was told, ‘you’re going to Moscow’ and my reaction was that I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. What could be cooler than going to Moscow?”

Having been accosted by foreign operatives at the Moscow airport - and many times since then - he knows how to diffuse a situation before it becomes heated. During a trip to Central Asia, he was wandering around trying to find a kabob for supper when eight police officers surrounded him, demanding his papers and passport.

“They’re writing everything down, taking notes, checking my passport, my visa. And I said, ‘Guys since you’ve stopped me and you know the culture. Can you help me out? Where can I go to get the best kabob tonight for dinner?’”

He also encountered hostile surveillance in Havana. When a Cuban intelligence officer slid into the back seat of a taxi next to him, Dekleva deftly brushed off his unwanted tail and the cab driver: “It’s okay guys. You’re just doing your job. Just get me to the hotel safely and point out the cigar factory while you’re at it.”

The Negotiator’s Cross‍

“People always say, ‘You have all of these incredible experiences. You need to write a novel,” - which is exactly what Dekleva has done. 

The Negotiator’s Cross revolves around a priest who has come to Mexico City, leaving behind a past full of secrets. One day, Father Ishmael’s world turns upside down when one of his parishioners disappears. It is a tale of diplomacy, espionage, kidnapping, and murder with settings familiar to anyone who knows the author - Texas, Mexico, Cuba, Bosnia, and Russia.

“We live in a world of secrets,” Dekleva said. “Psychiatrists and psychotherapists are bound by confidentiality rules and priests have the seal of the confessional, which is ironclad, so there are similarities in terms of listening, showing empathy and caring and hearing narratives and stories that are often very powerful, emotional, and painful.” 

Dekleva has already drafted the second book in his series, The Last Violinist, based on a high-level North Korean defector who gets caught up with North American intelligence agencies. Much like Dekleva’s life, the novel is a psychological journey. 
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“I have nothing but the greatest admiration for our diplomats, intelligence officers, USAID, and those who serve overseas in challenging settings,” he said. “Most people spend 20 years in places that are not garden spots, so it was very rewarding to be able to support these people and help them do their jobs.”


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Dr. Kenneth Dekleva is a senior fellow at the George W.H. Bush Foundation for US-China relations and an expert on leadership analysis, mental health, and psychiatry-medicine integration. He can be contacted for speaking and other engagements at SPYEX.com.