CIA doing its best to kill book publications...

From Publishers Weekly:

NOTE: Same as they've done to former CIA agent, TJ Waters' book, "Class 11", the CIA tried to kill another former CIA agent's book. Here's the story on that one:

Book by High-Ranking Agent In Conflict with Tenet Resurfaces at Carroll & Graf

Former CIA European operations chief Tyler Drumheller and former CIA director George Tenet have clashed in their respective accounts of when agency leaders and senior Administration officials became aware of the unreliability of intelligence provided by the Iraqi defector known as Curveball, as first outlined in a presidential commission's report last year. Over the weekend the Washington Post added a front page story drawing on interviews with Drumheller that "add new detail about the CIA's embrace of a source whose credibility was already unraveling" (and he was featured on 60 Minutes in late April as well, talking in part about assertions by Iraq's foreign minister-turned-double agent Naji Sabri that the country did not have active WMD programs).

The story that the Post misses, however, as Lunch has learned, is that Drumheller's book--originally entitled ON THE BRINK: How the White House Has Compromised American Intelligence, written with Elaine Monahan and at one time scheduled for publication earlier this year--was dropped recently, shortly before publication, by publisher William Morrow.

Drumheller's agent Carmen La Via at the Fifi Oscard Agency says Morrow cancelled the book a few months ago--following completion of the mandated review by the CIA, and not long after the acquisition of George Tenet's book in January by the Harper imprint. La Via says that the publisher "blamed it on the CIA, because the agency took out some specific names of people and names of countries--all of which are very obvious," like the source of a "10 Downing Street memo" and the name Turkey. La Via says the HarperCollins "legal department said [the cancellation] had nothing to do with" a sister division acquiring Tenet's book, but "the attorneys that got involved feel it is because they bought the Tenet."

Tenet's attorney Robert Barnett tells Lunch, "It's the first I have heard that Mr. Drumheller even had a book. Certainly our deal with Harper had nothing to do with whatever befell his book." HarperMorrow publisher Michael Morrison had no comment, and acquiring editor Mauro di Preta did not return our call.

Regardless of the rationale for Morrow's decision, La Via was disappointed that following the CIA's review of the manuscript, "they didn't go to bat for the author," citing as contrast Crown's efforts in support of former CIA agent and author of JAWBREAKER Gary Berntsen, even after considerable required redactions by the agency.

Drumheller's manuscript--in the form cleared by the CIA--was resubmitted to a small number of houses and acquired in principal shortly after BEA by Carroll & Graf editor-in-chief Philip Turner, who presented it in a pre-sales meeting last week, following the recent execution of cancellation paperwork by HarperCollins. Turner says "I don't think we'll announce a first printing of less than 100,000 copies." Tentatively scheduled for publication in early 2007 (when Tenet's book is also due out), Turner notes that it's possible the book will be moved up.

Drumheller's April 60 Minutes appearance reportedly came about as a result of initial publicity efforts for the Morrow version of the book, and Turner says that "TV newsmagazines have shown interest in another piece, so we are going to play by their schedule to a degree.

"Washington PostMorrow edition as listed on BN.com

Wrap...