As a junior in college at Florida State University, Brittany Butler interned for the U.S. State Department at the American Embassy in Paris. Her work there garnered the attention of the CIA who encouraged her to apply. When Butler was a senior, she was recruited to be a CIA case officer, which required an extensive clearance process, including psychological evaluations, polygraph tests, background checks and medical examinations. Having successfully passed, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 2005 after graduating with degrees in international affairs and political science. She began her first assignment with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations in 2006.
Butler recalled the most frightening part of the job. “In 2008, I found myself sitting in a hotel lobby in the Middle East, waiting for a high-threat meeting after having identified a source with actionable intelligence on a terrorist organization. I planned to meet with him alongside a case officer and an intelligence officer from an Arab intel service. The first meeting with any potential source can be nerve-racking. Most often, these individuals are terrorists themselves or have been at one point. I had done a good deal of research and analysis that indicated that the source did not mean to do us harm, but there was always a chance that I had missed something. Fortunately, this source’s intentions were not nefarious, although this is not always the case.”
Butler added that in 2009, the same officers she was working with on the prior operation later deployed to Khost Base in southeastern Afghanistan, where her CIA colleagues were scheduled to meet with a source who claimed access to one of the founders of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy commander. Tragically, security didn’t pat the would-be informant down and he launched a suicide attack killing eight CIA officers on base, the worst attack on CIA officers in its history.
Despite the risks her position posed, Butler said the most rewarding aspects of the job were the immediacy and relevance of preventing terrorist attacks on the homeland.
After Butler had her second son in 2014, she decided it was time to pivot in her career. She left the CIA and wrote her first novel, “The Syndicate Spy.” She said, “There are many stereotypical James Bond and Jason Bourne characters in fiction but very few, if any, that regard females in intelligence. In espionage, the reality is women must work 10 times harder than men to build rapport and trust. We weren’t seen as equals. The intention of the book is to change the narrative about female spies.”
The characters in the novel, she said, are inspired by colleagues she worked alongside at Women for Afghan Women. Her work at the CIA’s Counterterrorism Afghanistan-Pakistan Department gave her a deep understanding of the Taliban and their treatment of females, whom she described as “resilient.”
“These women have survived generations of violence, but they are not victims,” stated Butler.
Of the novel’s protagonist, Juliet, Butler explained, “Female intelligence officers are bold, daring, intelligent and unapologetically assertive in their quest for the truth. They also have an artful ability to see beyond religious and cultural barriers to find what unites us, not divides us. I wanted Juliet to embody all these qualities and more, attributes that I had witnessed in almost every female case officer or targeting officer. It was also important to me that Juliet not solely be portrayed as some sexual dominatrix, but instead, stand more on the laurels of her intellect and skill, as real female intelligence officers must.”
Another character, Mariam, is based on two courageous women, according to Butler. She said, “Shukria Dellawar, whom I am honored to call my good friend, served as a peace, gender equality and human rights advocate for Afghanistan over the last decade. She is ultimately who inspired me to write the book. The other is Princess Ameerah al-Taweel, whom I’ve admired from a distance. Princess Ameerah is head of the al-Taweel Foundation and boldly speaks on behalf of Saudi women empowerment.”
In 2020, after spending 15 years in Washington, D.C., Butler relocated to the Charleston area. Now a mother of three boys, Butler’s next novel, “The Patriot’s Daughter,” launches in April 2026.
To learn more about Butler’s journey, follow @formerspy1 on Instagram, TikTok or Substack.
By Sarah Rose
Leave a Reply