Circle William

Two brothers - one a presidential press secretary, the other a maverick captain of a Navy destroyer - scramble to prevent a Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's plot to use chemical weapons against Israel and the United States in this absorbing thriller.

Jim Schmidt is a master of the spin. As White House press secretary, his job is to cajole, sweet-talk, and otherwise persuade the nation's most powerful journalists to play a story the way the White House wants it played. Bill Schmidt, Jim's younger brother, is equally skillful, but in a different realm. He is the charismatic captain of the USS Winston Churchill and he leads an able but rambunctious crew with a penchant for causing well-publicized "liberty incidents" around the Mediterranean.

Both men instinctively understand their jobs, but more important, they understand how power works: He who controls the facts controls the response. So when the United States learns of a Libyan plot to drop a planeload of chemical weapons on the Israeli Knesset, the brothers-- thousands of miles apart-- unexpectedly find themselves working together to defeat the plan. Their first step is to set "Circle William," a Navy phrase meaning to prepare for chemical, germ, or nuclear attack.

As Jim huddles with the country's top defense and intelligence officials to plot a viable strategy to prevent the strike, Bill, on the front line of the crisis, prepares to implement the plan. Complicating their mission is the inconvenient presence of Sue O'Dell, a smart Washington Post Style reporter who wants to write a story on the commander and his notorious ship.

How the brothers counter the Libyan threat and how they spin the story make Circle William as much a story of international terrorism as it is a contemporary political thriller.

Drawing from his more than two decades in the U.S. Navy, his work inside the Pentagon and from his tenure as an assistant White House press secretary, Bill Harlow combines the insider's detail of Primary Colors with the technical expertise of The Hunt for Red October. Harlow's Circle William is as authentic and as chilling as any news event and is an impressive debut by a writer with an intimate knowledge of the workings of Washington, the military, and international terrorism.

Auteur

Bill Harlow is a writer, consultant and public relations specialist with over thirty years of experience including assignments in some of the toughest communications positions in the U.S. government. He spent seven years as the top spokesman for the Central Intelligence Agency and four years at the White House handling national security media matters for two Presidents.

Since August 2004, Harlow has been in private practice, providing public relations advice to government agencies, trade associations, and prominent public figures. From 2004-2009 he was an on and off-air consultant to NBC News and appeared on such programs as NBC Nightly News and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.

From 1997 to 2004 he was chief spokesman for the CIA. In that position he dealt with national and international news media on some of the most sensitive issues and operations of the United States government. He coordinated all public communications for the Director of Central Intelligence and was responsible for employee communications for the Agency's worldwide workforce. He was a member of the Senior Intelligence Service.

Prior to joining the CIA, Harlow had a distinguished 25 year career in the United States Navy, concluding with the rank of Captain. He was Assistant White House Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security during both the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations. Harlow traveled the world with two Presidents, helping to set up summit meetings and deal with media interest on some of the most news worthy events of modern times including the fall of the Soviet Union and the first Gulf War.

In addition to his military and government communications career, Harlow is an accomplished writer. He co-authored: "Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives" with Jose Rodriguez, the former Director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service. The book debuted at #2 on the New York Times best seller list on May 20,2012. Harlow as also co-author of George Tenet's 2007 New York Times #1 best seller "At the Center of the Storm." Harlow's highly acclaimed novel, "Circle William," was published by Scribner in 1999 and in paperback by Pocket Books in 2001. Paramount Pictures optioned the story to develop it as a major motion picture.

In 2008 Harlow joined forces with long-time NBC TV correspondent Fred Francis to form: "15-Seconds" ? a media training and crisis communications cons...