Author to Write of Covert Plot to Disrupt Vote
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Penguin’s Riverhead imprint has acquired a book that tantalizingly hints at what it calls a thwarted “plot to disrupt the presidential election.” The full story may well not emerge until long after the election is history, however, with publication not scheduled until next fall.
The author, Larry J. Kolb, promises to disclose the details of a sensational case in which he said one American citizen has already been arrested and another is being sought by law enforcement authorities. The men, both described as “rogue former CIA agents with long ties to the Republican National Committee,” concocted a scheme to create the appearance of “a trail of money – contributions – from Al Qaeda” directly to a high-ranking Kerry campaign official, Mr. Kolb said. Mr. Kolb said he discovered the plot while performing some related consulting work earlier this year for the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Kolb is in the early stages of preparing a full account of the case for his manuscript. He is not prepared to release details yet and emphasizes that he does not want to hinder the continuing efforts to capture the suspect still at large.
He also plans to describe a Byzantine set of barriers and narrow perspective, still very much in place within the many separate components of American security agencies and intelligence bureaus, that echoes some of the fateful flaws recently identified by the September 11 commission.
Thus, his book is titled “Mending Wall,” as he points to ways of mending the wall of security that is supposed to keep us safe from future attacks.
Mr. Kolb suggested his new book is directly related to threads in his first book, “Overworld: The Life and Times of a Reluctant Spy,” acquired for a sum well into six figures and released by Riverhead earlier this month. That book describes a wide-ranging set of covert adventures, including “secret negotiations with the Ayatollah Khomeini and a covert mission to Beirut to negotiate the release of an American hostage,” personally initiated by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.
That purported scheme also involved a CIA agent connected to Mr. Bush, who reportedly worked directly with a CIA director, William Casey, but also identified himself as working for the Republican National Committee.
