Star Staff Report
West Union C.P. Church is inviting the public to come and hear NCIS Special Agent Rick Yell (retired) to speak about Mark Harmon’s newest book, “The Ghosts of Panama.”
The event will take place at 6 p.m., Saturday with a reception to follow at 3099 West Union Road in Millington.
Yell will be discussing The New York Times bestselling book written by actor Mark Harmon, of the NCIS TV show fame. This book, written in conjunction with Leon Carroll, Jr., NCIS Special Agent (retired), who serves as a consultant
for all the NCIS TV shows, was written using a blend of research and interviews with the NIS agents who were directly involved.
This book is based on the real-life investigation conducted by SA Yell that led to the overthrow of the government of Panama and General Noriega. “Since 1986, Naval Investigative Service (NIS) Special Agent Yell has been assigned to the NIS Panama office, and lived there with his wife Anya and infant daughter. He was a civilian agent whose speciality was working criminal investigations. Things suddenly change when Yell inadvertently develops an intelligence source with unparalleled access to the Noriega regime.
Now the agent is thrust into a world of spy-verus-spy, of secret meetings and hidden documents. Yell’s source, known as “The Old Man,” provided intelligence about an imprisoned CIA asset, and helped track Noriega’s movements.
By this time, the relationship between the U.S, and Panama had dangerously eroded, and the information and reports submitted by Yell and the other agents based in the Panama office shaped the decisions made in Washington, D.C., CIA Headquarters in Langley, and the innermost sanctums of the Pentagon.
The powder keg was lit on December 16, 1989, when a young U.S. Marine was gunned down at a checkpoint in Panama City. When President George Bush reads the reports submitted by SA Yell and his office, he orders an invasion that puts Yell’s family, informants and fellow agents directly in harm’s way.
The Ghosts of Panama reveals the untold, clandestine story of counterintelligence professionals placed in a pressure cooker assignment of historic proportions.” The books are on sale everywhere, and there are already talks to make this into a movie.
A reception honoring Yell and his wife Annya will be held afterwards.
This post was originally published on here
