ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I
would like to give a shout-out and extend a sincere “thank you,”
“shukran,” “gracias,” “spasibo,” “grazie,” and/or “hvala” to the fol-
lowing people, without whom I could not and would not have written
American Spy:
To my parents for your love and for raising me to value hard work,
honesty, integrity, fairness, and equality, concepts that led me to my career
with the CIA. I’m sorry you had to learn from this book that, unbeknownst
to you, I regularly smuggled illegal knives and low-grade explosives into the
United States from Mexico under your car seats. I’d actually been meaning
to tell you about it for some time. I promise it won’t happen again, so please
don’t make me go to confession.
To my brilliant, kind, and beautiful “spy kids” for your unconditional
love and encouragement throughout the book-writing process. I love you
more than you will ever know, and not just because you always pretend to
find my dumb jokes as hilarious as I do. Did I ever tell you the one about
the grasshopper that walks into a bar?
To my siblings for putting up with me all of our lives and for unwit-
tingly contributing to some of the funny stories in chapter 4. Thanks also
for not ratting me out to Mom and Dad about that Mexican smuggling
thing. Or about the time when I was fourteen years old and I took you
all on a joyride in Dad’s Ford Galaxy around our fair city somewhere in
the American Southwest. To our youngest brother: it’s time you knew the
truth—you were not actually given up at birth by the Ranchero family for
adoption.
To Stacy for your love, patience, and support for much longer than
I deserved. While I’ve got your attention, would you mind if I took our
second daughter—oh, please, I know her name, but I just can’t reveal it
here—to Baghdad for New Year’s? What could go wrong?
To “John,” “Dan,” “Nate,” “Charlie,” “Rodd,” “Lance,” “Mac,”293