A Florida jury handed CNN one of the worst legal defeats in cable news history.
Now the CIA is demanding the man who won destroy every copy of the book he wrote about it.
The agency that helped take him down wants to make sure you never read his account of how they did it.
Zachary Young Won His CNN Defamation Case Then the CIA Told Him to Destroy the Book He Wrote About It
Zachary Young beat CNN in court. A Florida jury awarded him $5 million in January 2025 after finding the network defamed him – smearing a Navy veteran who helped Americans escape Afghanistan during Biden’s botched 2021 withdrawal as a criminal operating a "black market."
CNN's internal messages showed reporter Alex Marquardt vowing to "nail that Zachary Young mf-er." In separate internal messages, a senior CNN editor called the story "80 percent emotion."
The network settled before punitive damages were set. The jury forewoman said they were prepared to go as high as $100 million.
Young then did what Americans do after they win. He wrote a book.
American Spy, co-authored with Scott McEwen – the man who co-wrote American Sniper – was set for release through HarperCollins. It tells Young's story as a CIA-trained covert officer and details how CNN destroyed his career with a fabricated hit piece during Biden's catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal.
The CIA's Author Review Office had other plans.
In a letter dated June 15, the agency issued a "Final Determination" blocking publication entirely. The CIA demanded Young "delete any and all copies containing the sensitive information" – every electronic file from every device, every cloud backup, every folder including "Recycle Bin" and "Trash." "Please shred or burn hardcopies," the letter instructed.
Young must also compel his co-author, publisher, literary agent, and attorneys to do the same.
The CIA's stated justification was that Young had shared the manuscript before receiving approval. The agency declined to address the fact that everything he wrote about his CIA service had already been introduced in open court, broadcast nationally, and entered into the public trial record.
Young lives in Austria. The letter was dated June 15. He received it July 7 – half his 30-day appeal window already gone.
"The Agency's own press office confirmed my CIA background to a CNN reporter," Young said. "The world watched two weeks of my trial testimony. And now, years later, the CIA is telling me to destroy the book I wrote about my own life. I have nothing to hide. This story is already public. The only party trying to shut it down is the CIA."
Tammy Kupperman Thorp Worked at CNN Before Becoming the CIA Official Who Outed Zachary Young to the Network
During the trial, CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt testified under oath that before the story aired, he contacted CIA Director of Public Affairs Tammy Kupperman Thorp and asked whether Young was former CIA. Thorp confirmed it. Marquardt described her method as a "steer" – the agency's established practice of informally confirming information to credentialed reporters.
Marquardt's written messages state that Thorp "just basically told me that dude was former CIA." Those messages were entered as trial exhibits and displayed on national television.
A sitting CIA official handed Young's identity to the reporter building the hit piece against him.
Before becoming CIA Director of Public Affairs in May 2021, Thorp had spent three years at CNN as a supervising producer, where she oversaw coverage of the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security, and the Supreme Court. She left CNN in January 2020.
CNN's defamatory story aired six months after she joined the CIA. She burned Young to her former employer within her first half-year on the job.
Thorp left the agency in February 2025 – one month after the verdict. Now the CIA she left behind is ordering Young to incinerate the book that explains what she did.
Young's public comment on the connection is measured: "I'm not going to pretend I have the full picture. But having lived through this, it's hard not to wonder."
CIA Censorship Cannot Erase a Public Trial Record
Every detail about Young's CIA background was established in open court, broadcast nationally, and entered into evidence for the world to see.
Thorp's confirmation to Marquardt was established through sworn testimony. The CIA had every opportunity during the litigation to seek a protective order, invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, or move to seal the record. It did none of those things.
The agency doesn't get to demand a veteran shred his memoir because the contents embarrass the bureaucrats who helped take him down. Americans who beat powerful institutions in court are supposed to be able to tell that story.
Sources:
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "CIA Demands Navy Vet Delete Entire Manuscript for Book Detailing of CNN Trial," NewsBusters, July 7, 2026.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "CIA Director Who Burned Navy Vet to CNN Worked for the Network for Years," NewsBusters, July 9, 2026.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "The CIA Is Attempting to Block Navy Vet from Telling CNN Defamation Story," NewsBusters, June 26, 2026.
- Brian Flood, "Navy Vet Who Beat CNN in Defamation Trial Teams Up with 'American Sniper' Co-Author for Upcoming Spy Memoir," Fox News, December 15, 2025.
- "CNN Ordered to Pay $5 Million for Defaming Contractor in Trial," Variety, January 17, 2025.
