Interview of Thursday, 18 March 2021 of Robert W. Wallace and H. Keith Melton, author-historians, on their new book, "Spy Sites of Philadelphia: A Guide to the Region's Secret History"
Host: James Hughes, AFIO President, a former CIA Operations Officer.
TOPIC: Bob Wallace and Keith Melton discuss a few of the many unusual and fascinating examples of espionage activities which took place in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania covered in their latest guidebook: "Spy Sites of Philadelphia." In that book they discuss more than 600 entries, augmented by more than 700 photos, with references to more than 1,000 individual sites of interest.
The presentation runs 38 minutes.
BIOS:
ROBERT W. WALLACE had a 32-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency. Between 1995-2002 Mr. Wallace served as Deputy Director and Director of the CIA’s Office of Technical Service and directed the office’s global response to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States. As a senior CIA executive combined with 18 years of field experience, Wallace has been honored for working effectively with decision-makers in the intelligence community, private sector and Congress. He and H. Keith Melton have co-authored four books, including Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, Spy Sites of New York City, and Spy Sites of Philadelphia.
H. KEITH MELTON is recognized internationally as an authority on spy technology. He is also an intelligence historian and author of several books, including Ultimate Spy: Inside the Secret World of Espionage. He owns one of the largest collections of spy paraphernalia in the world.
JAMES R. HUGHES currently serves as the 17th President of AFIO. His service began January 2015. He had a career of US Government service spanning 37 years in numerous foreign countries with a particular focus in the Middle East. He started in U.S. Military Intelligence in the late 1960s and then joined the CIA’s Clandestine Service. He served overseas as a Chief of Station several times, and at CIA Headquarters in a number of senior management positions, including as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, in the Directorate of Operations [today’s National Clandestine Service]. He was also named the Associate Deputy Director of Operations (ADDO) at the National Security Agency, 1998-99. Following his retirement from the government in 2005, he joined EDS in Herndon, Virginia, as the Client Industry Executive for the U.S. Intelligence Community. After the HP acquisition of EDS, he continued to serve in a similar capacity until his retirement in 2012. His parents were missionaries in Turkey in the 1950s, where Jim spent his formative years. He is fluent in Arabic.
