The depiction of congressional oversight in spy film and fiction: Is congress the new meddler?

Abstract

How have writers of spy fiction been able to turn an inherently dubious profession into a breeding ground for heroes and heroines? Drawing from a letter written to the first writer who ever used a spy as a central character, indeed, a hero, this paper suggests that such a transformation is made easier when, among other things, well-meaning people present obstacles to the spy's work – people who meddle in the business of spying. The paper concludes, after a survey of several contemporary writers, that they have done so by turning Congress into the meddler. With very few exceptions, writers of spy fiction in the United States, since the creation of congressional oversight, have made Congress the source of most obstacles in the conduct of espionage.