Secrets, Spies, and The Persian: Inside the Mind of CIA Veteran David McCloskey

The Jack Carr Channel

Jack Carr

Society & Culture

4.9 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s guest is David McCloskey — former CIA analyst, bestselling author, and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest is Classified. Before becoming a novelist, David served at the Central Intelligence Agency where he wrote for the President’s Daily Brief, testified before Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, ambassadors, and military leaders. He spent years stationed across the Middle East during the Arab Spring and later worked in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center focused on the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. David’s acclaimed thrillers — DAMASCUS STATION, MOSCOW X, THE SEVENTH FLOOR, and THE PERSIAN — have established him as one of the most authentic new voices in modern espionage fiction. Damascus Station was a finalist for the 2022 International Thriller Writer’s Award for Best First Novel and is currently in development for television. His latest release, The Persian, takes readers deep into a shadow war in Iran and follows a dentist living in Sweden who builds an international front to conceal a covert operation. In this episode, Jack and David discuss the inspiration behind The Persian, the real-world dynamics of the intelligence community, and the meticulous craft of writing espionage fiction rooted in truth. They talk about the creation of The Rest is Classified — a top-charting podcast exploring untold spy stories, manhunts, and historical intrigue. David also shares insights into the writing process, balancing podcasting with novel deadlines, the surprising bureaucracy of the intelligence world — past and present — and a humorous story of running into Ben Affleck at Langley during research for Argo. His new novel, THE PERSIAN, is available now. FOLLOW DAVID X: @mccloskeybooks Instagram: @mccloskeybooks Facebook: @mccloskeybooks Website: https://www.davidmccloskeybooks.com/ FOLLOW JACK Instagram: @JackCarrUSA X: @JackCarrUSA Facebook: @JackCarr YouTube: @JackCarrUSA SPONSORS CRY HAVOC – A Tom Reece Thriller https://www.officialjackcarr.com/books/cry-havoc/ Bravo Company Manufacturing - https://bravocompanyusa.com/ and on Instagram @BravoCompanyUSA THE SIGs of Jack Carr: Visit https://www.sigsauer.com/ and on Instagram @sigsauerinc Jack Carr Gear: Explore the gear here https://jackcarr.co/gear

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Danger Close podcast is brought to you by Cry Havoc,
0:04.0	from New York Times number one bestselling author, Jack Carr.
0:08.0	Cry Havoc, a Tom Rees thriller, Order Now.
0:12.0	The Persian man, it's a total standalone set in like the very present day shadow war between Israel and Iran.
0:19.0	The main character in this book is this kind of clever
0:21.7	dentist of Persian Jewish extraction. His name's Cameron Svahani. And he is living in Sweden,
0:29.0	and he's bored. He wants to get out. He wants to go to California, right? The Israelis show up and make
0:34.2	him an off, which is go back to Iran, set up your dental practice there,
0:38.3	and we'll use it as a front for smuggling, surveillance, kidnapping, some assassinations.
0:44.3	And you'll get your California Dream financed.
0:46.3	And he does it. Things go well for a little while, and then people start dying in Israel.
0:51.3	And it's not just anybody, it's a group of Mossad officers who work for the unit that actually recruited him.
1:10.2	Oh, man, thanks for taking the time today. So cool. How are you doing? Yeah, man. Thanks for taking the time today. So cool. How are you doing?
1:14.2	Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. It's good to be back. I'm doing well.
1:19.8	Working on writing and podcasting and all this stuff. So it's been good, man. It's been a good
1:26.0	couple of years since we've
1:27.8	chatted here on the pod. Yeah, yeah. I want to talk to about the podcast. Love it. The rest is classified. Amazing. Thanks, man. I'll talk to you about that. The Persian coming out, which was, I saw your title and I was like, I have a list of titles, you know, that I just have an idea, Throw it, throw it, throw it, throw it.
1:41.6	The person was one of them from like, you know, five years ago or something.
1:44.7	Oh, no kidding.
1:45.5	Like, off the list.
1:46.6	I'm like, you know, five years ago or something.
1:44.7	Oh, no kidding.
	...

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