Wayne Barnes is a former counterintelligence special agent for the FBI. He worked KGB espionage, ran double agents, recruited hostile intelligence officers, and found his niche debriefing Cold War defectors. He is now a licensed private investigator, a signature expert, and he also recovers stolen impressionist paintings—the “Dirty Harry” for billionaires. He is a graduate of Penn State and Villanova Law.

He was the Security Officer in the field office where he created the Personnel Security Interview. He had hundreds of hours of face-time with Russians in undercover roles and, early in his career, was even a card-carrying member of the Black Panther Party. He had a specialty debriefing Cold War defectors (a record 25) and was involved in recruiting intelligence officers from several hostile services. All of this led to writing spy stories with those classified reports, making what could be a dry ten-page letterhead memorandum into a page-turner for senior managers.