Eat, Drink And Be Wary: Ex-CIA Agent Reveals How Eateries Are Key To Spycraft
In Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, the taciturn MI6 lothario with the cold eyes and cruel mouth who would go on to become the world's most famous spy muses that the restaurant is a key piece in the mise-en-scène of seduction.
This observation is borne out by the lavish caviar-and-champagne dinners in this epicurean thriller that unfolds amidst baccarat tables, bomb explosions and bitingly cold vodkas in a modish seaside town of France.
But what also becomes crystal clear is that the restaurant is a key piece in the mise-en-scène of another equally subtle and unforgiving game: spycraft.
"Restaurants and cafés are in many ways the lifeblood of espionage," is how Amaryllis Fox puts it. Fox was a real spy. Her memoir, released this month, recounts her adventures as a clandestine CIA operative from 2003 to 2010 deployed to 16 countries to infiltrate terror networks in the post-9/11 world. "Restaurants offer the opportunity to meet the people
