The Supplicant

Throughout the 1970’s and ‘80’s, salafi terrorist groups increasingly target American personnel, civilians and facilities across the globe. The American reaction – as perceived by its adversaries - is weak and ineffective. Following a succession of such terror attacks, in 1996 a massive truck bomb strikes the USAF facility at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The act kills nineteen Americans and wounds hundreds of others. Angered and frustrated, the U.S. Government determines to strike back. In response the National Security Council turns to a covert Special Activity that is known only to cleared insiders as the Org. The NSC directs the Org to launch an extremely hazardous, long-term HUMINT agent penetration of a radical jihadist group. The goal? To prevent any future such attacks against American interests. And to do so at any cost. What are the odds? The author is a career Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the State Department, nor of the U.S. Government.

Throughout the 1970’s and ‘80’s, salafi terrorist groups increasingly target American personnel, civilians and facilities across the globe. The American reaction – as perceived by its adversaries - is weak and ineffective. Following a succession of such terror attacks, in 1996 a massive truck bomb strikes the USAF facility at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The act kills nineteen Americans and wounds hundreds of others. Angered and frustrated, the U.S. Government determines to strike back. In response the National Security Council turns to a covert Special Activity that is known only to cleared insiders as the Org. The NSC directs the Org to launch an extremely hazardous, long-term HUMINT agent penetration of a radical jihadist group. The goal? To prevent any future such attacks against American interests. And to do so at any cost. What are the odds? The author is a career Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the State Department, nor of the U.S. Government.

Rege Sheehan, a native of Pittsburgh PA, is a graduate of Duquesne University and the University of Arkansas. He is a former U.S. Army officer (both active duty and reserve). In 1987 he joined the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) as a Special Agent. DSS is the law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State. Within the United States DSS agents conduct criminal investigations domestically and provide protective security details for the Secretary of State and visiting foreign dignitaries. Overseas, agents manage all security aspects of U.S. embassies and consulates, world-wide. Over the course of his career with DSS, the author served tours in the Miami and Washington Field Offices (investigating passport and visa fraud), as well as the Mobile Security Division and as Chief of the Department’s Counterintelligence Division. He also worked in the Regional Security Offices at the U.S. embassies in San Salvador, Pretoria and Beijing. The Supplicant is his first novel. A “prequel” novel is currently in development.