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Now let’s see—where was I? Oh yeah: promising to be back in late September after aorta surgery in July. Yes, I’m a few days late. So sue me.

Actually, before I got back home on Sept. 23, I did start fiddling with a couple pieces by our excellent contributing writers—Frank Snepp’s fascinating look back at the debacles of Kabul and Saigon (much worse); C. Tatum’s welcome excavation of heroic acts by Diplomatic Security Service agents in Kabul; and intelligence historian Mark Stout’s review of a new book on a fascinating Cold War spy case. Then today I helped usher into publication Jefferson Morley’s remarkable investigation into whatever happened to the Snowden Archive.

But now I’m looking forward to resuming my own reporting on some of the many intel issues bubbling up in relation to Russia, Ukraine, NATO, and China, not to mention how our security agencies are dealing with both foreign and domestic threats to our national security and constitutional democracy.

Now, I gotta plead patience. It’ll take awhile before I’m up to full speed. But I am gaining back strength every day, thanks to my good doctors and the kind generosity of friends who fed me and steadied me on my first walks around home. Only a week ago I could hardly walk just around my block, and needed someone to steady me. This past weekend a dear friend helped me walk around the National Air and Space Museum’s vast annex at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport outside Washington—a record 3,200 paces.

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” it wasn’t. But I’ll take it.

Good to be back.