Switch between CA and NY editions here.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
A Navy veteran and former CIA operative who won a blockbuster defamation case against CNN says the agency is trying to block publication of his memoir.
Zachary Young, who won a $5 million jury verdict against the cable news outlet over its coverage of the US evacuation of Afghanistan, told The Post the CIA is blocking the book on grounds it contains “sensitive” info, but he remains nonplussed by the response.
“I submitted the manuscript in good faith. I want to do the right thing,” he said Wednesday from his Vienna, Austria, home. “I am confused why I am getting this very, very hostile reaction from them.”
Young said he believes the agency is trying to suppress information that became public during the CNN trial, adding, “I think that the position they’ve taken internally is to try to just shut it down, full stop.”
In January, a Florida jury found CNN liable for defaming Young over a 2021 report that claimed he illegally exploited Afghans during the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Alex Marquardt, the CNN journalist who reported the story, was fired not long after the report aired. Young went on to write “American Spy” with co-author Scott McEwen of “American Sniper” fame. The volume recounts Young’s CIA career, his work evacuating Afghans during the US withdrawal and his legal battle with CNN, Young said.
When reached by The Post, McEwen said via email: “I stand by this project [100%]!”
Young said as a former CIA operative, he was required to submit the manuscript to the CIA for prepublication review. The process typically censors passages containing classified info, but Young said the agency did not detail any such text.
“They didn’t point to a single chapter, page, word, or sentence,” he said. “It was simply, the book can’t be published.”
In a June 15 letter reviewed by The Post, the CIA’s Author Review Office said the manuscript “cannot be published or disclosed as written” because it is “predicated upon sensitive information” covered by Young’s nondisclosure agreement.
The agency directed Young to “delete any and all copies” of the manuscript, including electronic files and hard copies, and instructed him to ensure that any co-authors, literary agents, publishers and attorneys with access to the manuscript also destroy their copies.
Young said the agency never identified what information it believes is protected, despite his requests for specific guidance.
“The whole point is for them to review something for classified material and then have a discussion about it,” Young said.
News of Young’s dispute with the CIA was first reported by NewsBusters.
Young contends the agency’s position is inconsistent. He said Marquardt testified that CIA media chief Tammy Thorp confirmed Young’s background.
Young also pointed to contemporaneous CNN communications that he says were introduced into evidence at trial, including one message stating: “Tammy just basically told me that dude was former CIA.”
“I have it proven airtight that she confirmed my employment there to a journalist,” Young told The Post.
“That’s a problem and it’s embarrassing.”
The Post has sought comment from Thorp, CNN and the CIA.
About the Author
