An IACSP Q&A With David McCloskey, Former CIA Analyst And Author Of The CIA Thriller “The Seventh Floor.”

David McClosky, the author of three fine CIA spy thrillers, “The Seventh Floor,” “Moscow X,” and “Damascus Station,” is a former CIA analyst and former consultant at McKinsey & Company. While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty.

McCloskey worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring and conducted a rotation in the Counterterrorism Center focused on the jihad in Syria and Iraq. During his time at McKinsey, he advised national security aerospace and transportation clients on strategic and operational issues. 

David McCloskey holds a M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advance International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East.

David McCloskey lives in Texas with his wife and children.

He was interviewed by Paul Davis.           

IACSP: I've read all three of your thrillers and I've enjoyed them. Have you always wanted to write novels, or did you get the notion while serving as a CIA analyst? 

McCloskey: The answer is actually neither. I grew up reading extensively and reading a lot of spy thrillers. My dad's a big fan of spy thrillers and that kind of genre in general, so I grew up reading it. I never thought that I would write it, never really imagined it as a po...