New ABC Drama THE ASSETS: True Story of the Uncovering of CIA Spy Aldrich Ames

I have just watched the first episode (Thursday evenings) of the ABC mini-series THE ASSETS. Here is the short plot summary on imdbpro.com written by Sandy Grimes:

Two veteran CIA officers Sandra Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille who hunted down CIA officer Aldrich Ames, a mole who fed information to the Soviet Union that contributed to the deaths of at least ten Soviet intelligence officers who had spied for the United States.

The TV drama mini-series starts in 1985. While watching the first episode, I thought about how I might have been there at the CIA at that time if, in 1980, I had said yes to a telephone call:

The CIA and me: The CIA recruited at Wharton when I was an M.B.A. student. During winter vacation of 1979-1980 I typed endless application forms on a typewriter. A couple of months later I got a phone call with an offer to come to CIA headquarters at Langley for two days of interviews.

At the moment I got the call I was not in a position to accept this visit offer — something I have always regretted.

Years later in 1994 I thought I had arranged an invitation to visit the CIA when I would be in D.C. for another reason. Unfortunately, that was the week that the mole in the agency — Aldrich Ames — was unmasked and the CIA was in lock-down mode. Obviously this past connection makes me particularly interested in the mini-series THE ASSETS.

My romantic suspense spy story CIA FALL GUY is partly inspired by my work as a civilian for the 66th Military Intelligence Group in Munich (see link below to this true story). If the Cold War interests you, check out this book on Amazon now at http://amzn.to/L38eiP

Yes, I still have hopes of someday visiting Langley, and in the meantime, I’ll be watching the next episodes of THE ASSETS and writing more chapters of my own Cold War memoir TALES OF AN AMERICAN OCCUPYING GERMANY on Wattpad at http://budurl.com/TAintro

P.S. You might like to read the saga of how I eventually got a security-clearance job with the 66th Military Intelligence Group in Munich years before I applied to the CIA. This was an adventure unto itself including the “approach” to my husband and me in Copenhagen by an obvious Russian agent. Click here to read this saga now.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and the romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY.