RIP: Peter Ernest

Peter Ernest, the founding Executive Director for the International Spy Museum, passed away on Feb. 13 at the age of 88.

From the Museum’s website:

“Peter’s career as a public servant spanned 36 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including over 20 years in the Clandestine Service. In his final posting with the Agency, he served as principal spokesman, developing and implementing a strategy of greater openness with the media and the public to promote better understanding of the CIA’s vital role in protecting national security.
After his retirement from government, it was a natural transition to lead the Spy Museum where he continued to shed light on the shadow world of intelligence increasing public understanding of its crucial impact on world events.”

https://www.spymuseum.org/press/press...

Here’s a very detailed Obit for Peter from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obitua...

I first met Peter when I conducted a program touting my Spy Television at the International Spy Museum on Feb. 2, 2004. I’ll always remember his warm and engaging introduction of me that night.

Over the next two years, we shared a number of phone conversations as he gave me pointers on my next book, Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film. I’ll never forget his generosity when he called one day and he graciously agreed to talk to my young grandson who got excited to talk to an actual spy. I’ve never seen Joey so ecstatic as following that conversation.

The next time I saw Peter was again at the ISM on Feb. 23, 2006. That evening was a milestone in my life as we screened The Impossible Spy for the audience, a film about Israeli spy Eli Cohen. Amanda Ohlkey, director of adult education at the ISM, even invited the film’s producer, Harvey Chertov to join me on stage, an evening that spun off in so many ways for me.

The next time we interacted was on Oct. 22, 2014 when I interviewed him for an online radio show I co-hosted at the time. He was plugging his book, Harry Potter and the Art of Spying, which he co-wrote with Lynn M. Boughey. This year, I plan to convert that audio conversation into text and make it available for all spy buffs to read-stay tuned.
Till then, here’s the review I wrote on the Harry Potter book:


Harry Potter and the Art of Spying
Reviewed By Dr. Wesley Britton of Bookpleasures.com, October 13, 2014

Authors: Lynn M. Boughey and Peter Earnest
Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing (September 15, 2014)
ISBN-10: 194001414X
ISBN-13: 978-1940014142

When we read the Harry Potter books and enjoyed the films, most of us thought about wizards and wands and the powers of magical spells. But did you imagine you were also enjoying spy adventures with characters delving into the murky worlds of espionage? Did you think "Severus Snape was perhaps the best spy ever portrayed in literature"?

That's the thesis of spy novelist Lynn Boughey and 36-year CIA veteran and Executive Director of the International Spy Museum, Peter Earnest. They believe the Harry Potter series demonstrated many attributes of actual spycraft as they show in their Harry Potter and the Art of Spying. In particular, they use harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as a textbook study of the many aspects of espionage that J. K. Rowling wove into her books.

According to Earnest, it was Boughey who spotted parallels between Order of the Phoenix and covert actions like secret codes, secret organizations, and adversary surveillance. It was Boughey who mapped out the analysis of how these tropes can be seen in the fifth Potter novel, and brought in Earnest aboard to provide real-world examples of how such actions can be found in espionage history. As a result, publicity for The Art of Spying is spot on when it describes the book as a "primer" in spycraft as readers can see how scenes from every chapter of Order of the Phoenix have something to do with spying from recruiting double-agents, uncovering moles, to using politics and diplomacy to achieve objectives. In fact, the book serves very much as a textbook in the many arenas of espionage using Harry Potter as a touchstone to lead into discussions into actual cases and practices of spies.

Without question, readers must be familiar with the Potter books for the study to be enjoyable. The first half, the part focusing on Order of the Phoenix, requires a detailed understanding of that particular novel. Part two is a more general overview of the Potter series and is, in many ways, a more readable section. Throughout, the authors provide numerous definitions of spy terminology including a good glossary. They add sidebars which include stories from Ernest's own CIA experiences. Into the mix, the pair also point out literary parallels between Rowlings and Shakespeare.

Harry Potter and The Art of Spying is obviously an opportunity for Boughey and Earnest to interest younger readers in the world of espionage by using Potter's popularity to showcase what the real covert world involves. It's not light reading but is appropriate for a YA audience. If you want a good Spycraft 101 course in one volume, here you go.

This review first appeared at:

http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitep...