Zachary Young accuses CIA of censoring his spy memoir after CNN win

Zachary Young, the U.S. Navy veteran who defeated CNN in a high-profile defamation case, is accusing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of “censorship” for trying to stop him from releasing a spy memoir about his life. 

Young, who is CIA-trained, successfully alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal from the country in 2021. During the trial, Young outlined his extensive training in things such as “brush passes,” and other sophisticated ways to exchange sensitive information in hostile areas without being detected. 

Young has since teamed up with “American Sniper” co-author Scott McEwen for a memoir called “American Spy,” but he says the CIA withheld permission for the book to be published. Young said he sent his former employer a manuscript for prepublication review, noting that the book wouldn’t contain classified information and that his involvement with the agency was already part of the public trial record after the CIA confirmed his background to CNN reporters. 

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The CIA Author Review Office (ARO) not only rejected his book but also told Young, who signed a nondisclosure agreement during his time with the Agency, to delete the manuscript altogether, according to a letter the Navy veteran said he received earlier this month. 

“The manuscript cannot be published or disclosed as written, because the manuscript is predicated upon sensitive information subject to your nondisclosure agreement. In issuing this denial, we reviewed the additional materials you submitted with the manuscript, but must stress that these materials did not constitute confirmation or acknowledgment by the organization of the information contained in the manuscript or alter the status of the sensitive information,” the letter obtained by Fox News Digital stated. 

“Therefore, you must delete any and all copies containing the sensitive information. Electronic copies should be deleted from your hard drive, mobile device, the cloud, and any backup or remote storage locations,” the letter continued. “Ensure these items are also deleted from ‘Recycle Bin’ and ‘Trash’ folders. Please shred or burn hardcopies.”

Young, who was given 30 days to appeal the ruling but said he didn’t receive the letter at his residence in Austria until the window was halfway closed, blasted the Agency. 

“I kept America’s secrets for most of my adult life without recognition. The CIA’s own director of public affairs confirmed my employment, in an official capacity, to a journalist she knew was writing a story about me. Now that same Agency wants me to burn my own life story to cover its embarrassment. That’s not national security. That’s censorship. CNN didn’t intimidate me, and the CIA won’t either,” Young told Fox News Digital. 

The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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According to a press release for the book, “American Spy” will tell the story of “an American who spent years working undercover in hostile environments and denied areas, operating in the hidden world of international espionage.” William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, was expected to release the book later this year.

HarperCollins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

In addition, NewsBusters reported that the person who served as CIA Public Affairs Director when Young’s affiliation was confirmed to then-CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt had previously worked for CNN from January 2017 to January 2020. 

“According to sworn testimony and contemporaneous CNN communications introduced at trial, she confirmed my former CIA employment to a CNN reporter while he was reporting the story. That was not some random leak. That was the Agency’s own press office communicating with the media through its official spokesperson. Given that, it is hard to understand what the Agency’s objection to my book could possibly be, especially since they have never once identified in writing a single passage they claim is classified,” Young told Fox News Digital. 

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“A CNN reporter went to the CIA, the CIA’s official public affairs office confirmed my background, CNN then aired a defamatory story about me, and now the Agency is trying to block my book about what happened,” Young continued. “That raises serious questions, and I think the public deserves answers.”

CNN declined comment. 

In 2025, a six-person jury decided Young was owed $4 million in lost earnings and $1 million in personal damages such as pain and suffering, and said punitive damages were warranted against CNN. A settlement was reached before punitive damages were decided by the jury. 

The foreman of the jury, Katy Svitenko, told Fox News Digital in her first interview following the trial that the jury was “willing to go as high as $100 million, somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million to $100 million.” Settlement terms were not disclosed. 

CNN has previously said it will take “useful lessons” from the decision. 

“We remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless and fair-minded reporting at CNN, though we will of course take what useful lessons we can from this case,” a CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital following the trial.