Welcome to Tuesday’s Washington Secrets. We sat down with thriller writer Simon Conway to hear about his new novel, The British Agent. It touches on two very real questions about national security: How can you be sure that weapons sent to Ukraine won’t be used for nefarious ends, and how well can you protect the U.S. president when he is in the air? (Donald Trump being smuggled off Air Force One last month for fear that Iran might shoot down the presidential jet could almost be a plot point in the novel.)
Simon Conway was having his morning coffee, gazing out from his new Georgetown apartment across the Potomac in 2022, when three helicopters bearing the Marine One livery flew into view.
They followed the line of the river. The tower blocks of Arlington on the far side framed the presidential helicopter and its two escorts.
It took Conway back to his time in the British Army and his days plotting ambushes.
“You just had that sense of proximity to power, and that was kind of fascinating,” he told Secrets. “But it did also make me think, my God, that’s quite a vulnerable point.”
The kernel of an idea was planted.
Fast forward a matter of weeks, and Conway was in Ukraine working for the Halo Trust. The mine clearance charity was surveying territory briefly held by Russian troops before they were forced back from Kyiv. His job was to help secure safe access for aid agencies.
“The kind of kicker for this book was that we came across a downed helicopter in a field,” he said. “It was a Russian KA-52 alligator helicopter, an attack helicopter. It had been taken down by a surface-to-air missile.”
The Ukrainians were using British Starstreak missiles. They are an extraordinary piece of kit. The missiles can accelerate to Mach 4. They are not fooled by infrared countermeasures, and they have no emissions for anti-radar missiles to lock on to.
“Fired at short range in a city at a helicopter traversing in front of you … There’s not much you could do against that,” said Conway.
He had the plot for his eighth novel. What if one of those missiles fell into the wrong hands?
The two strands of Conway’s original inspiration weave together as “Chuff,” a female Special Air Service technical expert and the British Agent of the title. She is dispatched to Ukraine in an effort to check that the Starstreak systems are still in friendly hands.
Three quickly go missing.
What follows is an edge-of-your-seat romp through warzones, centers of espionage, and Make America Great Again swamps, via Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Scotland, Florida, London, Cape Cod, and Washington, D.C.
The missiles eventually reach a MAGA militia at its Florida base. The group is intent on revenge against the forces they believe stole the 2020 election, even as they become pawns in a much bigger game.
Conway worked hard to avoid the trap of many writers who reach for stereotypes and cliches when it comes to conjuring up a right-wing militia.
“I effectively red-pilled myself,” he said, describing how he pored over online message boards, borrowing language to make sure that his militia members sounded real.
He also used the expertise of Robert Moore, a British journalist with ITV News. Moore distinguished himself on Jan. 6, 2021, by being the only broadcaster to follow the rioters inside the Capitol building.
“He told me this amazing tale about going down to Volusia County, in Florida, where there’s this large space that is effectively an ungoverned space,” said Conway. “The police chief told him they won’t go in there because there’s only one road in, which means the road you go in on is the road you’ve got to come back out on, which is an invitation to an ambush.”
The result is a look inside planning for a second American Civil War — or the Boogaloo, or the Day of the Rope — which carries the ring of authenticity. Many of the characters, like their real-life counterparts, come from troubled lives and places of abuse, said Conway, giving a sense of some of the injustice and anger that can lead to exploitation.
And then there is the city of Washington, which emerges as a character in its own right during the energetic third act.
Conway has lived here for the past four years. During an earlier stint, he spent hours exploring its parks and river trails with his dog.
“You can walk about the city, through various parks, including Rock Creek Park, without seeing a building,” he said, explaining how the climactic moments involve Chuff traversing the city in secret.
“They get from Georgetown up to the British Embassy with only crossing two roads.”
The result is a rollercoaster of a novel that grapples with real-world conundrums about how to pour weapons into a hot war without letting them come back to haunt you (just look at the Trump administration’s hesitation about licensing Patriot missile technology to Ukraine), all underpinned by Conway’s military experience and love for Washington’s hidden byways.
The Secret Agent is published by Penguin.
Does Karen Attiah even want to go back to the Washington Post?
An independent arbitrator yesterday ordered the Washington Post to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah and award her back pay.
Attiah was fired last year after posting about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, saying that she would not be mourning “white men who espouse hatred and violence.”
So would she even want to go back to work for a news organization that fired her? She was asked that question when she appeared on NPR this morning.
“That is the big question. I mean, my attitude is I was very proud of the work that I was able to do, and very proud of being able, especially as an editor, to platform other voices. And when it comes to that work as a journalist, I’m ready and willing to go back to that work. And right now, I mean, the Washington Post has a standing marching order from the arbitrator, so the ball is in their court.”
Right. That, of course, is exactly what you say, whether or not you want to go back.
Lunchtime reading
How Washington ruined the American hamburger: Chef Bard Hutchins, of Butterworth’s infamy, on why Trump’s tax break for Argentinian ground beef solves nothing — and why he only sometimes has a burger on the menu.
Tucker Carlson is ready to destroy the Republican Party: And what it means for his pal JD Vance. Josh Hammer sees a presidential run coming, even if it is doomed to failure.
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