As NewsBusters reported in late June, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was blocking Navy veteran Zachary Young from publishing his book American Spy, which was largely about his successful defamation case against CNN. NewsBusters has now obtained a copy of the letter sent by the CIA’s Author Review Office (ARO), and they were demanding so much more. According to a Samantha R. Overlong, the Agency was demanding that Young and his publisher “delete” everything about the book.
Without acknowledging the fact that everything Young and co-author Scott McEwen (author of American Sniper)had written about his work with the CIA was already out in public due to the CNN trial, the letter engaged in some circular arguments as it scolded Young for not getting the manuscript approved before writing the manuscript:
We must remind you that your nondisclosure agreement requires that you submit your draft manuscripts) to ARO and receive approval prior to sharing the material with anyone who is not subject to the same nondisclosure agreement and access prerequisites. To remain in compliance with your nondisclosure agreement you should not have shared the manuscript or the information within it with a co-author, literary agent, publisher, counsel, or any other third party until after you received approval from ARO.
In issuing its “Final Determination,” the ARO barred the book’s publication and demanded Young delete everything having to do with the manuscript:
The manuscript cannot be published or disclosed as written, because the manuscript is predicated upon sensitive information subject to your nondisclosure agreement. In issuing this denial, we reviewed the additional materials you submitted with the manuscript, but must stress that these materials did not constitute confirmation or acknowledgement by the organization of the information contained in the manuscript or alter the status of the sensitive information. Therefore, you must delete any and all copies containing the sensitive information. Electronic copies should be deleted from your hard drive, mobile device, the cloud, and any backup or remote storage locations. Ensure these items are also deleted from “Recycle Bin” and “Trash” folders. Please shred or burn hardcopies. You are also responsible for ensuring any third party with access to the manuscript, including co-authors, literary agents, publishers, and counsel, take the same steps to securely delete and destroy all copies of the manuscript.
The ARO offered Young an appeal but seemingly tried to put him behind the eight ball at the same time. Young needed to get his appeal in “30 days of the date of this letter.” The letter was dated June 15, but Young had only received it on July 7; half the allotted time wasted with the letter in transit. Young lives in Austria.
“The Agency’s own press office confirmed my CIA background to a CNN reporter. The world watched two weeks of my trial testimony. And now, years later, the CIA is telling me to destroy the book I wrote about my own life and to force my publisher to destroy it too. I have nothing to hide. This story is already public. The only party trying to shut it down is the CIA,” Young said in a statement to NewsBusters.
You can read the letter yourself in the provided images below.