Book Talk: Spy Schools

American universities have become havens for spies, or at least that’s a central contention of Daniel Golden’s latest book, Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’s Universities. On this week’s first episode of The E.R., host Sharon Weinberger is joined by Golden, a ProPublica senior editor and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, to discuss his book released on Oct. 10.

Golden’s work explores the complicated relationship between academia and intelligence services. In classrooms and labs around the United States, foreign agents from countries like Russia and China are learning, and sometimes stealing, sensitive information from government-funded research projects. At the same time, these agents are forming relationships with other students and faculty to use as future informants, often with the universities themselves turning a blind eye to such actions.

In reciprocal fashion, U.S. intelligence agencies have infiltrated academia, enlisting professors and students as agents. Spy Schools seeks to explore the relationship between intelligence services, both foreign and domestic, and academia, while unearthing some shocking stories along the way.

Daniel Golden is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and senior editor at ProPublica. He is the author of the national bestseller, The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way Into Elite Colleges–and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates. His latest book, Spy Schools: How The CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’s Universities is out today. Follow him on Twitter: @DanLGolden

They are joined in Studio by John Sipher and FP’s Jenna McLaughlin.

John Sipher is a Director of Client Services at CrossLead, Inc. He retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency’s National Clandestine Service. At the time of his retirement he was a member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service. He is the recipient of the Agency’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. Follow him on Twitter: @John_Sipher

Jenna McLaughlin is an intelligence reporter for Foreign Policy, focusing on the culture, dynamics, and events happening in the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the other 15 members of the intelligence community—plus the way the sensitive information they gather and analyze informs and directs the White House and policy makers on the Hill. Follow her on Twitter: @JennaMC_Laugh

Sharon Weinberger is FP’s executive editor for news. She is the author of The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World. Follow her on Twitter: @weinbergersa.

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