Q&A with Tim Weiner on his CIA book The Mission

Posted by Isabel Liu
April 18, 2026

A special evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner

Photo Credit: Dominique Nabokov

Tim Weiner joins us on Tuesday May 19 for Q&A on his book The Mission: The CIA in the 21^st Century. Weiner has covered American intelligence and national security for decades. He won a Pulitzer for reporting on the Pentagon budget while at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the National Book Award for Nonfiction for his book Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. He has written five other books and publishes the newsletter CODEWORD: The World of Secret Intelligence.

"Throughout ‘The Mission,’ Weiner hammers on an agency that seems to be repeatedly blinded by its sense of American supremacy."

How the C.I.A. Lost Its Way After the Cold War – New York Times

"This impeccably sourced account of the secretive agency during a period of global turmoil deserves a Pulitzer.”

The Mission by Tim Weiner review – unmasking the CIA – The Guardian

Our session starts at 7:30pm UK time and runs until 8:45pm. RSVP here to receive the Zoom link. Any questions? Contact [email protected]

All are welcome, even if you haven't read the book. Here is more to complement or substitute for reading the book in a way that fits your schedule.

MS Now interview (6 minutes)

NPR Interview, All Things Considered (8 minutes)

Dr Ruth Ben-Ghiat Interview, historian of authoritarianism (27 minutes)

Podcast w/ German political scientist Dr Marcel Dirsus (32 minutes)

Politics and Prose Interview (68 minutes)