UH, OH, SHE WAS A CIA MAN HUNTER!

FORMER CIA OFFICER SHELLY MATEER UNCLOAKS THE “AGENCY” AND HER “MAN-IZING”

Photo courtesy of Shelly Mateer, used with permission

It’s not easy to write a book as a true CIA insider. First, you have to get in. Not easy. Then you have to get out. Again, not easy. And finally, you have to write about it and have your work approved for release according to CIA public affairs protocols. Very not easy.

Shelley Mateer has written and writes about the CIA as a former officer. Here’s an interview I just conducted with her. I’ve never met Shelley in person, but we have exchanged posts on LinkedIn for several years. I’m very happy that she now spends a lot of time on the beach with her husband and kids. I think she is very happy about that too.

When you started at the CIA, you were single and seven years later, you were still single. You left and wrote a book Single in the CIA. What about the CIA left you disillusioned then? Has it changed for the better since you left?

I started at the CIA in 2004 and resigned in September of 2011. From 2003-2004 I worked as a contractor for the CIA also, but did not become an official officer until I was direct hired in 2004 into the Directorate of Operations (DO). I was one of the older new hires, as most were in their early to mid-twenties and I was twenty-nine going on thirty. Yes, I was unmarried, but I had a live-in boyfriend of many years at the time. As I wasn't looking to get married, that was just fine with me. But I found that people in the Agency would always say that I needed to marry someone within the Agency, and that they were sure I would. It just wasn't widely accepted to date anyone outside of the Agency- to me, it seemed like a sick little bubble, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Years later, after the live-in boyfriend and I had broken up, I did end up dating some CIA officers. One of them is the subject of my book Mission: Stand Down, and he is also mentioned in the first book, Single in the CIA.

After I left the Agency in 2011, I wasn't sure what to do. A big reason for my resignation was that I had been in a domestic post and knew I did not want to move back to the Washington, DC area. The other reasons were the poisonous workplace (the women in particular were vicious to me) and also some of the things I witnessed relating to the one particular boyfriend and how his very sensitive operation was handled, really disturbed me. I also noticed that all the millennial officers coming in were, quite frankly, morons. I knew at the time that they would be the downfall of the Agency. Not that the baby boomers were any better because they seemed to cower to the millennials because they were “so smart”. The Agency had over-hired also, and I saw it become more and more bloated. This is all discussed in Single in the CIA.

I wrote the first book because I wanted to document what I experienced in the CIA, with an emphasis on personal relationships and the people I encountered there. It was meant to be funny, but it's also sad if you realize what you are reading. From there, I had the writing bug once again and I began a novelette series about the Agency titled Mingling in the CIA where readers can learn more about some of the real people at the Agency and what it was really like to work there.

I don't think it has changed for the better since I left. In fact, I think most likely it has gotten much worse and way more bloated. Many of the people I knew there retired or resigned shortly after I left, and I only know of a very few who stayed there. The ones that stayed just wanted to “keep their heads down” until they could retire. I am so glad that I left when I did because I could not have dealt with the emotional support animals, the forced masking, and the forced vaccination that I'm pretty sure was happening within those Headquarters cubicle walls that they were trying to force me back to when I resigned.

What TV show or movie would you say most approximates your CIA experience and why?

There really isn't a TV show or movie that most approximates my CIA experience. I always thought it would be great to have a show that was based on my experience, using comedy. I think it would be cool to have a female character who isn't the normal woman they portray. Like a female James Bond, but with a hint of goofiness. Where we have the term womanizer, we really don't have a term for women who are the equivalent - maybe man-izer? I suppose we do have some derogatory words that could be used, but there is no Hank Moody/James Bond woman character, and that is what I was.

There are CIA heroes for sure. And villains. But it’s an ever-expanding government agency. In your opinion, how connected to everyday American taxpayers is CIA leadership? In your opinion, what motivates them, what do they fear most?

It's a very bloated agency for sure. In my opinion, CIA leadership is probably not at all connected to everyday American taxpayers, and I think we've seen examples of that over the past four years in particular. People there do live in a bubble and are encouraged to do so. I don't know how much reality that allows. I don't know what could possibly motivate these CIA officers in leadership positions except possibly money. It was well known that high level officers could get very lucrative contract deals after retirement. What do they fear most? Maybe having their bubble popped.

Here’s more from Shelley. Definitely check out her books and website:

I am the Editor at OpsLens Media, and I also write for them. OpsLens began with all of its contributors being either former intelligence, former military, or former law enforcement. We now cover all sorts of subjects. We have articles, shows, merchandise, and a fairly large social media following. I started at OpsLens as a contributor, and then a few years later was offered the editor job. Writing for OpsLens was one of the main reasons I began my own writing and editing business, and it really has opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. The website is

OpsLens

.

Shelly Mateer

Author, Single in the CIA, the Mingling in the CIA series, Mission: Stand Down, Mommy Thinks She's a Monster, The Lemon Seed and The Adventures of Shelly Beach series. Creator of Mommy's Gone Mad, Cooking in the CIA and the BurpMitt® product line.

Donate!

www.shellymateer.com

www.burp mitten.com

And of course, I have to say my book is getting a lot of traction. An Almost Insurmountable Evil: How Obama’s Deep State Defiled the Catholic Church and Executed the Wuhan Plandemic is out! Order it on Amazon now! Don’t forget to take advantage of my recent deal, buy my book, show me proof in a Substack message or note, and I’ll give you a paid subscription for one year. That’s my BOGO! Here’s the link for my book.

Upgrade Your Midnight in the Laptop of G&E Subscription From Free to Paid

— Weekly paid-only video updates on my role in Biden Impeachment

— Paid-only posts expanding the Obama White House “context”

— Full access to currently published archives