I'll tell you a story that I've never told publicly.

Go for it.

So when I got hired, John was a GS-14 nobody.

He was the deputy director of the Arab-Israeli analysis group.

And he worked for a woman who was really one of the great minds, the great thinkers on Syria.

And they didn't get along.

He had been sort of imposed on her.

And so he went to her one day and said, I think I'm ready for promotion.

I'm ready for the Senior Intelligence Service, and I'd like your blessing.

Her name was Martha Kessler.

Martha, yeah, Kessler.

So she said, not only are you not ready for the senior service,

I don't even want you to work for me anymore.

You're fired. Well, at the CIA, if you're fired, you're not really fired. You have six weeks

to walk the halls and find another job. And if you can't find a job in six weeks, any job,

then they escort you out, they take your badge and you're actually fired.

So this happened right around Christmas.

There are no jobs open at Christmas.

The job turnover is in the summer.

So he's having a heck of a time finding a job.

Finally, he goes to the PDB staff, the president's daily brief, and it just so happens that they have an opening for a briefer for the lowest ranking person on the National

Security Council who's entitled to a PDB briefing.

...