The Team

Across 32 years in the U.S. Navy, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, Bryan built a career spanning frontline intelligence operations, counterintelligence, covert action, and organizational leadership.

He served as Acting Chief of Station in Eastern and Northern Europe, directed operations in the Near East, and led joint teams of intelligence officers and Tier I special operators in Middle East conflict zones. Later in his career, his focus expanded to agency-wide leadership. He briefed the White House, National Security Council, Congress, and senior military leaders, and concluded his CIA career as a Department Chief overseeing structural and cultural changes designed to protect the Agency’s global financial operations.

For Arcana House, Bryan brings both the operational detail and institutional perspective that make an intelligence story hold up: authentic tradecraft, institutional culture, high-pressure decision-making, and the realities of operating inside organizations where information is compartmentalized and the stakes extend far beyond a single mission.

He knows the difference between something that has been researched and something that feels lived, and how to preserve that distinction without sacrificing the story.