In the months ahead, he would come to realize that it wasn’t a spoiled sandwich that had mowed him down. It would end a promising career that had just catapulted him into the ranks of senior CIA leadership, and threw him into the middle of a growing international mystery that has puzzled diplomats and scientists, and raised concerns on Capitol Hill.

Struggling to regain control over his body, Polymeropoulos couldn’t have imagined that this incident would upend his life. But that night, paralyzed with seasickness in the landlocked Russian capital, Polymeropoulos felt terrified and utterly helpless for the first time. He had been shot at, ducked under rocket fire, and had shrapnel whiz by uncomfortably close to his head. He had hunted terrorists in Pakistan and Yemen. He had spent most of his career in the Middle East, fighting America’s long war on terrorism.

Polymeropoulos was a covert CIA operative, a jovial, burly man who likes to refer to himself as “grizzled.” Moscow was not the first time he had been on enemy territory. He felt, he recalled, “like I was going to both throw up and pass out at the same time.” It was the early morning hours of December 5, 2017, and his Moscow hotel room was spinning around him. But when he tried to get out of bed, he fell over. Food poisoning, he thought, and decided to head for the bathroom.

Julia ioffe late show