As NewsBusters was first to report last December, Navy veteran Zachary Young, the man who took CNN to court for malicious defamation and won, was set to release a memoir titled American Spy co-written by American Sniper author Scott McEwen. It would heavily describe CNN’s defamation from his perspective. But new information obtained by NewsBusters is that the Central Intelligence Agency, Young’s former employer, was blocking the book.
Speaking with someone familiar with the matter, NewsBusters can confirm that the CIA is withholding permission to allow the book to be published; that’s despite the fact that everything in the book pertaining to Young’s time in the Agency was already part of the public record via the trial.
NewsBusters has obtained a copy of the letter the CIA’s Publications Review Board received from Young. The letter, which included a copy of his manuscript, explained how all the information about his time in the Agency had already been released publicly and provided the evidence of it being broadcast around the world.
In his opening paragraph, Young made it clear that while he no longer worked for the Agency, he was abiding by his obligation to submit his manuscript for review and was doing so in “good faith”:
I respectfully submit the enclosed manuscript for prepublication review pursuant to my obligations as a former Agency officer. I understand that the purpose of this review is to identify and prevent the disclosure of classified national security information. I submit the manuscript in good faith to facilitate that process, and I note at the outset that, to the best of my knowledge, the manuscript contains no classified information.
“The manuscript references certain details concerning my prior service with the CIA. All such references are drawn from the public record. They were introduced and discussed openly during Young v. Cable News Network, Inc., Case No. 03 2022 CA 000608, a defamation trial held in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida,” Young wrote.
The letter pointed out that the CIA had every opportunity throughout the legal proceedings and the trial to have his affiliation with the Agency sealed and/or kill the case entirely. They punted:
It was not conducted under the Classified Information Procedures Act. No party invoked classified information procedures. No government entity intervened, sought to seal any portion of the record, requested a protective order, or asked the court to restrict testimony, exhibits, broadcast coverage, or public access to the record. The proceedings were broadcast nationally by the Law and Crime Network and viewed by a substantial public audience. The testimony and exhibits referenced in this submission, including materials referencing my prior CIA service and my status as a former NOC, were admitted, displayed, or discussed in open court and became part of the public trial record. Following the trial, my prior CIA affiliation was also reported publicly in multiple national and international news articles concerning the verdict and the litigation.
The Agency had full advance notice that these matters would be addressed in litigation. On May 24, 2023, counsel for CNN formally contacted the CIA’s Office of General Counsel under 32 C.F.R. § 1905.4, requesting confirmation of my prior employment and advising the Agency that CNN intended to pursue discovery concerning my alleged CIA positions, security clearances, alleged Agency projects, high risk missions, extractions, and evacuations. The Agency responded on June 28, 2023, through Assistant General Counsel Erin M. Alleman. The Agency declined CNN’s Touhy request and refused to produce information. Although the Agency cited sources and methods, the Privacy Act, the CIA Act, and potential classification concerns as reasons for refusing CNN’s request, it did not invoke classification in the litigation itself. It did not intervene. It did not seek sealing. It did not request a protective order. It did not ask the court to restrict deposition testimony, trial testimony, exhibits, broadcast coverage, or public access to the record. The matter then proceeded through discovery, deposition, and a full public trial without Agency intervention.
It’s possible that the CIA had blocked the book to hide from the embarrassment.
Young points out that it’s part of the public record that former CIA Director of Public Affairs Tammy Kupperman Thorp inappropriately outed him to CNN’s Alex Marquardt, who was fired months after the trial:
The trial record also establishes that my prior CIA affiliation was not merely incidentally mentioned by a private individual or inadvertently disclosed by an unauthorized outsider. It was confirmed through the Agency’s official press function. The documentary record, admitted as a trial exhibit and broadcast nationally, shows CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt formally tasking the Agency’s Office of Public Affairs on October 29, 2021, stating: “FYI I asked Tammy if they can look into the other guy’s claim that he’s CIA.” This was not a casual conversation. It was a directed request to the Agency’s official press office to look into whether a named individual was connected to the CIA. Marquardt testified under oath at trial that Tammy Kupperman Thorp, who served as the CIA’s Director of Public Affairs from 2021 to 2025, confirmed my Agency background and described the practice as a “steer,” which he defined on the record as the Agency’s established method of informally confirming information to credentialed journalists.
The CIA’s block also puts the future of Young’s possible TV show in jeopardy, since it’s based on the book.
A source tells NewsBusters to expect legal action against the CIA.
