CIA agents use pseudonyms to review spy fiction The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, le Carré's 1963 novel, comes in for special praise from Barry Royden, a former operations officer. "Le Carré's description of intelligence operational life as seen through the eyes of a case officer is well grounded," he writes. I found particuarly insightful Leamus's thoughts about 'living' the role of the defector...so that he didn't inadvertently say or do something inconsistent with his cover story. This equates very closely with the kind of training that we have seen necessary for agents who will be directed to try to penetrate terrorist networks by feigning dedication to their beliefs. Le Carré's post 9/11 books are, however, criticised for containing "increasingly shrill anti-Americanism." Reviewing the recent film of le Carré's 1974 novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Michael Bradford, a "National Clandestine Service Officer," and James Burridge, an "independent contractor at the CIA," also don't believe that the movie will help new recruits to the CIA. "Except for intelligence professionals and le Carré aficionados, the film version is almost incomprehensible," they write. The Center for the Study of Intelligence offers a lecture to new CIA hires and others on the portrayal of CIA and the intelligence profession in popular culture. We don't believe the film version of Tinker, Tailor will make the cut for inclusion in the session. Another British writer, Patrick O'Brian, is singled out for creating a rival to James Bond. Writing about Stephen Maturin, one of the two main characters in O'Brian's epic Master and Commander series, CIA historian Nicholas Dujmovic says: Intelligence professionals of the 21st century, particularly those engaged in the counter-terrorism mission, could use an inspirational icon from the world of literature to replace the outdated figure of James Bond. It may come as a surprise that the best fictional figure to represent the kind of intelligence officer we need these days is a Catalan-Irish physician and naturalist serving the British Crown in the Royal Navy two centuries ago during the Napoloenic era. Maturin is praised for being an expert at codes and secret writing, at breaking and entering and at "flaps and seals" work for opening envelopes and dispatches. Anthony Horowitz's teenage British spy Alex Ryder is also praised for being a worthy successor to James Bond. According to The Register, Studies in Intelligence scrutinises the work of real life spies, too. The journal includes a regular feature called The Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf, which carries reviews of non-fiction books about intelligence.