198 AMERICAN SPYlamented the ethnic hatreds and civil wars that had engulfed his country in
recent years. When Jovan was a youth, his Communist curriculum taught
him to despise and fear Americans, but after school he’d secretly play
cowboys and Indians. Like many who grew up in the Communist world,
he always had a wary fascination for all things American.
When I first cold contacted him, the personable but very astute Jovan
assumed I was a CIA “agent.” I told him truthfully that I’d left my govern-
ment career and was working privately, but I don’t know if he ever com-
pletely believed me. (To this day, my oldest daughter also remains dubious
that I ever really left the service.) Over time, Jovan and I developed a solid
working and personal relationship. I met his wonderful family and spent
many hours as a nervous passenger in his little white Yugo, while he enthu-
siastically sped us around the dangerous roads of the former Yugoslavia.
Sitting at a tiny table in a ritzy Balkan restaurant,^1 feasting on crusty
bread, Dalmatian prosciutto, kajmak cheese, and marinated Montenegrin
olives, Jovan and I reviewed every detail of our plan to locate Karadžić and
collect the reward money. Jovan would be responsible for handling his agent
network in Bosnia and securely relaying the intelligence to me, and I’d take
care of the more difficult part: dealing with the US government and coali-
tion forces—coalition forces that were responsible for finding and arresting
Karadžić and other indicted war criminals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Relying on Jovan’s existing agent network, we made rapid progress
and soon had a source inside the fugitive Karadžić’s personal security
detail. We were able to track the movements of Karadžić—who slept in
a different location each night—on an almost real-time basis. There were
now five of us in the information “chain”—myself, Jovan, Jovan’s imme-
diate contact, the intermediary between Jovan’s immediate contact and
Karadžić’s trusted aide, and, key to the entire operation, Karadžić’s aide.
Success would net us each one million dollars. This chain also ensured the
source next to Karadžić would not and could not know of my identity, a
factor that would yield very practical benefits in the event he were sus-
pected of being a mole and subjected to torture.
Sweet justice for the victims of Srebrenica and a million bucks in my
pocket. What’s not to like?
In late December 2003, I reported and coordinated my game plan
with relevant US officials, and they in turn coordinated with their coali-