This is CBS I In The World. I'm John Bouch with David McCloskey. His novel, Damascus Station,

a work of fiction, a work of fiction about Syria in the early part of the second decade

of the 21st century. A state that is completely collapsed now, a failed state. And yet, David

takes this inside Syria, inside Damascus, and shows us what the CIA comes up against

dealing with state security, Macabre ad. And the FSB shows up. That's right. The reawaken

KGB shows up. Other players include the Muslim brothers who have their own operation over

the years, and then eventually the jihadists will show up. There's a great deal of trade

craft in David's book. And I recommend especially talking about it because David has passed

his book to General David Patreus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, along

with his other titles. And Leon Panetta, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency,

along with his other titles. They have read and approved. And David also makes note in

a post-note that the CIA read his book very carefully several times, many more times.

The publication review board. And it's approved what David has identified as trade craft.

So David, I want to have some fun because we're not going to give a story away. We've indicated

there's a hero and a hero and a good bad guy. And we know who the villains are. What

is an SDR, David? What do we learn from that right away at the opening scenes in Paris?

Sure. And an SDR is the acronym for a surveillance detection route. It is one of the primary

tools in the in the toolbox of any CIA case officer. It's also in most spy novels, something

that makes, you know, it doesn't make very many appearances in most modern spy thrillers. It is

essentially the the act of plotting very carefully a route stops the series of moves on the

street of a city as you are going to meet with an asset whereby the combination of all of

those different moves allow you to understand if you are being watched by the security services,

...