Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Join MS in Intelligence Analysis program director Michael Ard as he hosts national security consultant and novelist Jim Lawler who is currently working on his third espionage novel, The Traitor’s Tale, which examines treachery and treason deep within the CIA. Lawler’s first novel, Living Lies (2021), an espionage story of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, was listed in December 2022 by Spyscape as number 38 on its list of the 50 best spy novels ever written. His second novel, In the Twinkling of an Eye, was published in April 2022 and chronicles the recruiting of a spy at the heart of a devastating covert Russian-North Korean genetic bioweapons program.
Lawler is the senior advisor to Brasidas Group, a global corporate intelligence and risk advisory firm, and to Alpha 506, a global network of trained intelligence and special forces operators. He is also the senior partner at MDO Group, which provides HUMINT training focused on WMD, CI, technical and cyber issues. He is a noted speaker on the topic of Insider Threats. Lawler boasts a decorated 25-year CIA career, serving in various international posts and leading the Counterproliferation Division's Special Activities Unit. Notably, as Chief of one of the highly impactful takedown teams, he received the CIA's Trailblazer Award in 2007 for disrupting one of the most dangerous nuclear weapons networks in history.
Learn more about the MS in Inside Intelligence program: https://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/graduate/ms-intelligence-analysis/
Want to be notified about upcoming editions of Inside Intelligence? Subscribe to our newsletter, Advanced Notice:
https://advanced.jhu.edu/about/aap-events/events-newsletter/
Join MS in Intelligence Analysis program director Michael Ard as he hosts national security consultant and novelist Jim Lawler who is currently working on his third espionage novel, The Traitor’s Tale, which examines treachery and treason deep within the CIA. Lawler’s first novel, Living Lies (2021), an espionage story of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, was listed in December 2022 by Spyscape as number 38 on its list of the 50 best spy novels ever written. His second novel, In the Twinkling of an Eye, was published in April 2022 and chronicles the recruiting of a spy at the heart of a devastating covert Russian-North Korean genetic bioweapons program.
Lawler is the senior advisor to Brasidas Group, a global corporate intelligence and risk advisory firm, and to Alpha 506, a global network of trained intelligence and special forces operators. He is also the senior partner at MDO Group, which provides HUMINT training focused on WMD, CI, technical and cyber issues. He is a noted speaker on the topic of Insider Threats. Lawler boasts a decorated 25-year CIA career, serving in various international posts and leading the Counterproliferation Division's Special Activities Unit. Notably, as Chief of one of the highly impactful takedown teams, he received the CIA's Trailblazer Award in 2007 for disrupting one of the most dangerous nuclear weapons networks in history.
Learn more about the MS in Inside Intelligence program: https://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/graduate/ms-intelligence-analysis/
Want to be notified about upcoming editions of Inside Intelligence? Subscribe to our newsletter, Advanced Notice:
https://advanced.jhu.edu/about/aap-events/events-newsletter/
