David McCloskey’s London Station brings Artemis Aphrodite Procter to Britain and asks a provocative question: what if the CIA and MI6 started spying on each other again?
In this Spybrary conversation, Tim Shipman talks to David McCloskey about the origins of London Station, his fifth novel, and the real-world intelligence relationship that helped him build its fictional conflict.
They discuss the sometimes complicated relationship between the CIA and SIS, what the CIA Chief of Station in London actually does, why Artemis Procter is such an unusual choice for the job, and how McCloskey used conversations with former American and British intelligence officers while researching the book.
David also introduces London Station’s unconventional CIA director, Bobby Jerome, explains the wonderful intelligence expression “deep chat,” recounts an unexpected encounter at Langley with the former colleague he had in mind when he first created Procter, and reveals where his fiction is heading next.
Watch on YouTube
There are also updates on an Artemis television series, a Moscow X film, another screen project, and forthcoming episodes of The Rest Is Classified.
“Not just McCloskey’s best book by far, it is the best spy novel I have ever read: brilliantly written and plotted.”
―Antony Beevor
What Is David McCloskey’s London Station About?
McCloskey describes London Station as growing out of a simple “what if?” question.
What would happen if the CIA and SIS—or MI6—fell out and started spying on each other?
The novel opens with a new US administration and a new CIA director, Bobby Jerome.
Jerome quickly falls out with the CIA Chief of Station in London and fires him, setting in motion a wider breakdown in relations with the British
He then decides that the CIA should take another look at its major overseas relationships, starting with the British.
To make matters worse from the British point of view, Artemis Procter is sent to London.
McCloskey says he realised while researching the Chief of Station London role that Procter was “uniquely unsuited for that job”—which made giving it to her all the more appealing as a novelist.
As relations between the services deteriorate, the former CIA Chief of Station begins working through a British intelligence cutout.
McCloskey notes that from the American perspective Charlie is effectively spying for the British, while the British side would describe the arrangement rather differently.
Then the CIA starts losing sources connected to China.
Charlie comes under suspicion, and a private intelligence contractor is brought into an increasingly complicated situation.
McCloskey says he wanted the novel to work partly as a thriller, with the two sides going back and forth in a cat-and-mouse struggle, while also introducing an element of mystery and a whodunnit towards the end.
Why London Station Pits the CIA Against MI6
The idea for London Station emerged while McCloskey was doing research for The Rest Is Classified on the Anglo-American intelligence relationship in the 1930s.
During that research, he encountered what he describes as many examples of the British spying on the Americans.
That led him to wonder:
Could it happen again?
From there, McCloskey began looking for a plausible modern scenario in which the two intelligence services could seriously fall out.
He concluded that a major change of leadership would probably be necessary on one side of the relationship.
That helped lead to Bobby Jerome.
McCloskey describes Jerome as a hugely successful businessman with enormous confidence in his own ability to make decisions and run organisations, but “absolutely no national security experience whatsoever.”
Jerome views the CIA’s relationship with the British through a commercial lens and is prepared to ask whether the arrangement is as fair as it should be.
What Former CIA Officers Told McCloskey About the British
McCloskey says he spent considerable time talking to former CIA personnel about their experiences and their views of British intelligence.
Those conversations fed into Procter’s attitude towards the British in London Station.
Some former officers had complaints about working with British counterparts and felt that, on occasion, the British service could benefit from American intelligence work without bringing enough to the table themselves.
But McCloskey is careful to stress that this was only one side of the picture.
He also heard many stories of extremely successful collaboration between British and American officers.
Some people had experienced both.
That mixture of intimacy and friction leads McCloskey to compare the relationship to a dysfunctional marriage: a partnership containing enormous trust and closeness, but also the tensions that come with such proximity.
What Does the CIA Chief of Station in London Actually Do?
One of the most interesting parts of the interview is McCloskey’s explanation of how running the CIA station in London differs from a posting such as Damascus.
In Damascus Station, the job is fundamentally about intelligence collection against Syria.
The CIA wants Syrian secrets.
London is different.
McCloskey says the CIA Chief of Station is not running unilateral operations against the British, and the station itself is very large. That means the chief can also be several layers removed from case officers conducting operational work with British counterparts.
The London chief has another important responsibility.
McCloskey describes the role as something like the “school ma'am” of the broader CIA–SIS relationship.
If relations between British and American intelligence officers deteriorate somewhere else in the world, the problem can eventually involve the London Chief of Station because it affects the wider partnership.
The job therefore requires a significant amount of diplomacy and relationship management.
Those qualities are not Procter’s obvious strengths.
Which is precisely why McCloskey liked putting her there.
Artemis Procter in London Station
Tim Shipman asks whether London Station represents an attempt to redeem Artemis Procter after some of her more extreme exploits in earlier novels.
McCloskey does not accept the premise.
“Artemis is Artemis,” he says.
But Procter has changed.
When McCloskey went back to The Seventh Floor while beginning the new book, he felt that Procter had been drinking too much.
He also felt that she herself would have recognised the problem.
As a result, Procter is sober and desperately trying to stay sober during London Station.
She is also having to adjust to a completely different kind of intelligence job.
This is no longer Procter running around Damascus meeting agents and conducting operations herself.
The London role requires a different way of operating.
McCloskey says that as the novel progresses, Procter comes to recognise that the British and American services working together can accomplish more than they could independently.
She does not become an Anglophile.
But she does come to recognise the value of the partnership.
Do the CIA and MI6 Really Spy on Each Other?
The fictional premise naturally raises a real-world question.
Do the CIA and SIS actually spy on one another?
McCloskey says he does not think either service spies directly on the other.
He argues that there is little need because so much information is already shared and there are such extensive personal connections between officers.
Those relationships can sometimes produce unofficial exchanges as well.
One former SIS officer gave McCloskey a particularly memorable name for conversations in which British and American officers may share more than appears in formal cable traffic:
“Deep chat.”
McCloskey says these personal relationships can result in information being exchanged that the respective governments might not officially have intended to share.
How David McCloskey Researched London Station
Accuracy of place has become an important feature of McCloskey’s novels, and London presented a particular challenge.
As Tim points out, British readers know whether McCloskey has got London right.
McCloskey says he has spent an enormous amount of time trying to make the locations in all his books feel accurate.
For London Station, that meant speaking extensively with former British intelligence officers.
McCloskey jokes that although he was an analyst while at the CIA, as a novelist he has become something of an “amateur case officer” because he is constantly recruiting sources.
Some former SIS officers invited him to dinner and allowed him to ask questions.
Those relationships also allowed him to follow up on very specific details.
For example, McCloskey needed to write a scene set in the pub at MI6 HQ Vauxhall Cross.
He had never been inside it.
Former British case officers were able to describe it to him in detail.
What McCloskey Asks Former Intelligence Officers
McCloskey is also clear about the kind of information he is looking for.
He is not asking former intelligence officers to provide lists of real agents or disclose genuine operations.
Instead, his questions tend to be about plausibility.
If he wants a story to reach a particular point, he asks:
How could that actually happen?
How would an intelligence officer approach the problem?
How would an operation realistically unfold?
McCloskey says the way former officers think through those questions is often very different from the assumptions he brings to them.
That difference, he says, is where much of the authenticity comes from.
CIA, SIS and Mossad: How Different Are They?
McCloskey also compares the intelligence cultures he encountered while researching his books.
His impression is that the CIA and SIS are much more similar than different.
He says that makes sense given the history of the two organisations and their close relationship.
When researching The Persian, however, his conversations with former Mossad figures produced a different impression.
McCloskey says intelligence tradecraft itself does not necessarily vary dramatically because different services face many of the same basic operational constraints.
But when it comes to culture, bureaucracy and organisational structure, Mossad felt very different from the CIA and SIS.
David McCloskey Meets the Woman Who Helped Inspire Artemis Procter
One of the episode’s standout stories concerns the former CIA colleague McCloskey had in mind when he first began creating Artemis Procter.
McCloskey returned to CIA headquarters for a book talk and signing.
He had not been in touch with this former colleague since leaving the Agency.
During the signing, near the CIA gift shop, he looked up and saw her waiting in line.
She approached him.
Her opening words were:
“I know.”
McCloskey says he had found her intimidating when they worked together.
She was not particularly tall, but he remembers an intensity and physical presence that influenced the way he first imagined Procter.
He is also clear that the connection belongs primarily to the character’s origins.
When he first sat down to write Artemis Aphrodite Procter in Damascus Station, this was the person he had in mind.
Now, he says, “Procter’s Procter.”
The fictional character has become her own creation.
What Is David McCloskey Writing After London Station?
McCloskey also reveals where his fiction is going next.
He is returning to Damascus.
His next novel will be a direct sequel to Damascus Station.
McCloskey describes the story as taking place around ten years later and using a compressed timeline covering approximately 2022 to 2024.
The book begins at a point when the Assad regime appears to be doing well and moves towards its final months.
Several characters from Damascus Station will return, including Mariam and Sam Joseph.
Artemis Procter TV Series and Moscow X Film
McCloskey also gives Tim an update on several film and television projects.
An Artemis television series is in development.
McCloskey says somebody he cannot yet name has agreed to play Artemis, and he is extremely pleased about the casting.
A showrunner is also attached to the project.
A Moscow X film is under development and has a script.
McCloskey also has a film project based on his short story The Influencer.
He says he does not plan to write the screenplays himself.
Instead, he expects to be involved as a consultant and executive producer while leaving the actual scriptwriting to others.
What’s Coming on The Rest Is Classified?
Towards the end of the conversation, McCloskey also previews forthcoming projects from The Rest Is Classified.
These include a six-part series on Kim Philby, a series about the CIA and Watergate, and another looking at polygraphs: where they came from, how they work and how intelligence agencies use them.
For the polygraph series, McCloskey and Gordon Corera even underwent polygraph tests themselves.
McCloskey admits he deliberately tried lying on a couple of the questions.
David McCloskey London Station: Key Topics in This Episode
In this Spybrary interview with David McCloskey:
- The origins of London Station
- What happens when the CIA and MI6 fall out
- The real relationship between American and British intelligence
- What the CIA Chief of Station London actually does
- Artemis Procter’s new role in Britain
- Bobby Jerome and his unusual approach to running the CIA
- What former CIA officers told McCloskey about working with the British
- The intelligence meaning of “deep chat”
- How McCloskey researched London and Vauxhall Cross
- Why former SIS officers helped him with the novel
- CIA, SIS and Mossad intelligence cultures
- Meeting the former colleague who helped inspire Artemis Procter
- The direct sequel to Damascus Station
- The Artemis Procter television series
- The Moscow X film project
- What’s next on The Rest Is Classified
Join the Spybrary Community
What do you make of London Station?
Could Artemis Procter ever really become a diplomat?
And what happens to the CIA–MI6 Special Relationship when trust begins to break down?
Let us know in our online Spybrary Community
Links
Buy London Station
David McCloskey Official Site
The Rest is Classified
Follow Tim Shipman on X
The Top 125 Spy Authors Ranked and Rated by Tim Shipman
Join the Spybrary Community
Support Spybrary
Did you know that one of the UK's top journalists Tim Shipman also has a passion for espionage novels? And that he has meticulously curated a compendium of his favorite 125 spy authors for the Spybrary Podcast and Community, all carefully ranked with suggestions on which book to start with from each spy author.
Grab your copy of this invaluable dossier and as a bonus, your enlistment ushers you into the monthly Spybrary Briefing, where we divulge imminent and upcoming spy book releases.
