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Charles McCarry (June 14, 1930 – February 26, 2019) was an American writer, primarily of spy fiction, and a former undercover operative for the Central Intelligence Agency.

McCarry's family came from The Berkshires area of western Massachusetts. He was born in Pittsfield, and lived in Virginia. He graduated from Dalton High School.

McCarry began his writing career in the United States Army as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. He served from 1948 to 1951 and achieved the rank of sergeant. He received initial training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was stationed in Germany for almost two years and at Camp Pickett, Virginia for about a year.

After his army service, he was a speechwriter in the early Administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1958, at the invitation of Cord Meyer, he accepted a post with the CIA, for whom he traveled the globe as a deep cover operative. He took a leave of absence to work for the 1960 Nixon campaign, writing for vice-presidential candidate Henry Cabot Lodge. He left the CIA for the last time in 1967, becoming a writer of spy novels.