The CIA Has a Creative Writing Group. No One Is Writing a Spy Novel

A group of CIA operatives are apparently scribes on the side, meeting regularly in a writing group to hone their craft – but none of them are working on the next great spy novel.

“The last thing in the world I’d want to write about is this place,” one member, who goes by the nom de plume, "Vivian" said. “I can’t imagine anything more boring.”

Author Johannes Lichtman was granted an insider view of the group — aptly titled "Invisible Ink" — and the CIA HQ when he was invited to speak, writing about the experience in a personal essay for The Paris Review.

Invisible Ink meets on the grounds of the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in a conference room located through a side door of the CIA museum, where they learn and discuss techniques, establishing a literary voice and working with an editor.

Instead of espionage tales, Lichtman said the operatives have opted to write upmarket fiction, dystopian novels and even blog about muffin recipes.

According to Lichtman, who had to have a background check and leave his phone in his car before entering the building, the CIA is surprisingly lenient when it comes to letting its operatives explore their creativity.

One of the Invisible Ink members told him the agency understands that what a character says in a novel does not equate to what the author may think or believe.

In fact, according to the hobbyist writer, her own novel "helped change how the agency viewed fiction versus nonfiction."

Nonetheless, subject to the Hatch Act, the group is barred from sharing classified information in their work, and lawyers have to vet whatever they get published.