Stony Brook Professor Lester Paldy Reveals Secret Life as CIA Officer, Detailing Arms Control and Recruitment Efforts
Lester Paldy, a 92-year-old professor at Stony Brook University, has revealed his secret life as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, detailing his involvement in arms control negotiations and the recruitment of foreign scientists. Paldy, who also served in the Marine Corps, shared aspects of his clandestine career in library presentations across Long Island and in his memoir, "No Cloak, No Dagger: A Professor's Secret Life Inside the CIA." His work with the CIA began in 1989, focusing initially on a treaty with the Russian government to limit underground nuclear tests, which was eventually signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush in 1990. Later, as a contract officer, Paldy assisted in identifying foreign scientists at conferences who could be potential recruits for the U.S., working alongside CIA recruiters. He emphasized that CIA officers often rely on manipulation and persuasion rather than the stereotypical guns and badges, and that secrecy was paramount, even among colleague... 
