Wayne A. Barnes worked in the FBI focusing in Foreign Counterintelligence for 29 years, mostly in Washington, D.C.—the best place to catch spies. He learned Romanian, worked against Soviet Bloc intelligence services, then the KGB for a decade, much of it covering Russians on Capitol Hill. He worked espionage cases, and ran assets and double-agents. He was assigned to an elite squad, Courtship—three FBI agents and three CIA case officers—tasked to recruit Soviet Intelligence officers.
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.
Now retired, Wayne investigates privately based in Ft. Lauderdale, working major frauds, profiling, and conducting complex investigations. He has recovered stolen impressionist paintings for AIG and Lloyds of London around the world.