Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab-American Patriot in the CIA

by Nada Prouty

Overview

"Nada Prouty served her country loyally, with distinction, and, as universally acknowledged by her colleagues, with great personal courage as a CIA covert officer. This tale of rampant trampling of citizen's rights is a vivid reminder of the responsibility of citizens to be vigilant against unaccountable government overreach if we hope to keep a strong democracy, where the rule of law prevails and where a citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty."
-Valerie Plame, author of Fair Game

When Nada Prouty came to the United States as a young woman, she fell in love with the democracy and freedom of her new home. Following a childhood in war-torn Lebanon with an abusive father, and facing the prospect of an arranged marriage, she jumped at the chance to forge her own path in America—a path that led to exciting undercover work in the FBI, then the CIA. But all this changed in the wake of 9/11, at the height of anti-Arab fervor, when federal investigators charged Prouty with passing intelligence to Hezbollah. Though the CIA and federal judge eventually exonerated Prouty of all charges, she was dismissed from the agency and stripped of her citizenship. In Uncompromised, Prouty tells her whole story in a bid to restore her name and reputation in the country that she loves. Beyond a thrilling story of espionage and betrayal, this is a sobering commentary on cultural alienation, the power of fear, and what it means to truly love America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230342002
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/29/2013
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	457,251
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Nada Prouty was an undercover spy for the FBI and CIA for over a decade, working on a host of high-profile terrorism cases, including the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. She was also part of the team that developed the intelligence on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. Today, Prouty cares for her two young children, speaks about her experience nationwide, and awaitsthe reinstatement of her citizenship.

Table of Contents

'Don't shoot - I'm an American'
Where I'm Coming From
Charade
Coming to America
Joining the Fold
Major Case
Late Al Qaeda Nights
September 11th, 2001
Vanishing Act
Over to the Dark Side
Family Affairs
Decision Made
Exonerated

Editorial Reviews

Nada Prouty tells her incredible life story.” —Marie Claire

“A dramatic memoir . . . Prouty remains a fierce yet wary patriot.” —MORE magazine

“The heroic efforts of journalists to uncover the truth resonate in this era of punditry . . . Prouty provides a unique perspective on the war on terror.” —Booklist

“Nada Prouty served her country loyally, with distinction, and, as universally acknowledged by her colleagues, with great personal courage as a CIA covert officer.Her story of service is riveting but pales in comparison to the horrors she suffered as a result of the hubris of a heavy-handed prosecutor. Even though the investigation into Nada's actions and loyalty was totally discredited by a CIA counterintelligence investigation, an out of control prosecutor, apparently accountable to nobody, took from Nada virtually everything she cherished - her job and even her US citizenship.This tale of rampant trampling of citizen's rights is a vivid reminder of the responsibility of citizens to be vigilant against unaccountable government overreach if we hope to keep our democracy strong where the rule of law prevails and where a citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty.” —Valerie Plame, author of Fair Game

“Nada Prouty's story reads like a Greek tragedy or a Dickensian novel. As an FBI Agent and later CIA Officer, Prouty conducted countless high-threat counterterrorism missions with more courage and conviction than most of us could muster in a lifetime. While Prouty served the United States government, her adoptive country of America, and all its citizens in a manner both superlative and selfless, she suddenly found herself caught in a maddening labyrinth of distrust and deception in which she is accused of being an enemy of the very people she sought to protect. Even after Prouty is exonerated and vindicated, her story remains one of tragic loss - to our country. Intelligence officers of Ms. Prouty's intellect, abilities and determination are few and far between. In this extraordinary story, we encounter a heroine who emerges as both human and superhuman. Anyone who cares about our country and its ongoing fight against terrorists will be stunned by this personal and political saga.” —Lindsay Moran, former CIA Operations Officer and author of Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy

“A decorated FBI Special Agent and CIA operations officer, Nada Prouty is a true uncompromised patriot. It is deeply disturbingthat in a country that prides itself on equanimity in the realm of law, racially-biased prosecutors used fear to justify their misguided prosecution of someone who had repeatedly put her life on the line in defense of the United States. At a time when Prouty's proven skills are so desperately needed to fight terrorism, the short-sightedness of an overreaching prosecution for political and personal gain has compromised our nation's security.” —Stephanie Bellistri, chief of CIA's operational unit to counter terrorist use of WMD

“Nada Prouty's story is as instructive as it is inspirational. She has performed many heroic deeds in the service of the United States of America, from her work, obtaining confessions from Abu Nidal Organization terrorists who had murdered and maimed in a botched airliner hijacking to the months she spent operating undercover, pregnant and alone, in some of the most dangerous war-torn streets in the Middle East. I later stood by helplessly as her adopted United States turned upon her like a wounded animal, during a time of high-emotion and pain after 9/11, and accused her of being a traitor, when she had already risked more to defend this country than tens-of-millions of her fellow U.S. citizens could possibly imagine. The U.S. needs each of us to contribute to national security, and the reckless persecution of minorities and the foreign born will doom our values and way of life much more completely than our foreign enemies.” —Michael P. Dorris, FBI Special Agent (retired)

From the Publisher

Former FBI special agent and CIA operative Prouty recounts her bittersweet immigrant success story in this sobering memoir. Prouty escaped a life of chaos and abuse in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, when she came to the U.S. in 1989 on a student visa. She earned an accounting degree, married a physician, and attained U.S. citizenship. She joined the FBI as a special agent in 1999 and was assigned to work on “an international terrorism squad.” Despite the “endemic gender bias of the FBI,” Prouty enjoyed her work at the bureau that included several high-profile cases. In 2003, she transferred to the CIA and was soon working in Iraq. But Prouty’s American dream became a nightmare in 2007 when she learned that the Justice Department was investigating her for treason. Hounded and threatened by overzealous prosecutors, Prouty accepted a “farcical plea agreement deal” that kept her out of jail but cost her U.S. citizenship. Despite her harrowing ordeal, the author never lost faith in her adopted country and was exonerated. By turns uplifting and chilling, but never bitter, Prouty’s unflinching memoir is the story of a particularly resilient American patriot. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Lebanese-born ex-FBI and -CIA operative Prouty offers a disturbing account of how anti-Arab sentiment among key government officials led to her dismissal from the intelligence community and the suspension of her U.S. citizenship.

The understandably defensive tone of this book is established early on when the author writes that, though now Catholic, she was born a Druze and practiced "an amalgam of Muslim, Christian, Sufi, and Pentateuch teachings." When the American University of Beirut closed in 1989, she left Lebanon and an abusive family situation to live with an older sister who had established herself in Detroit. There, she doggedly pursued the education that would allow her to "break the cycle of dependency on men and become self-sufficient"--to the point of entering into an arranged marriage to secure her status in America. Prouty's path eventually led her into a career as an undercover agent at the FBI and then the CIA. At both agencies, she quickly developed a reputation as a dedicated, first-rate professional who played an important role in capturing top terror suspects including Saddam Hussein. But in 2005, her career suddenly ground to a halt when federal investigators charged her with passing intelligence to Lebanese operatives of Hezbollah. A righteously indignant Prouty clearly seeks vindication for the wrongs committed against her, but she rages neither against her U.S. government accusers nor the journalists who excoriated her as a traitor. Instead, she expresses concern that her experiences as a "nonwhite, non-ethnically West European, and non-Christian" are symptomatic of larger cultural paranoia that, if left unchecked, will undermine enlightened civil society.

A sobering account of democratic fallibility in an age of anxiety.

Kirkus Reviews