Washington Post Columnist David Ignatius to Present Keynote Address at Fifth Annual Raleigh Spy Conference

Raleigh, NC, February 22, 2008 --(PR.com)-- David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist and former Moscow bureau chief will deliver the keynote address at the fifth annual Raleigh Spy Conference (www.raleighspyconference.com) to be held in downtown Raleigh March 26-28.

Ignatius is also the author of espionage fiction applauded by the intelligence community. His newest book, Body of Lies, is being made into a major motion picture starring Russell Crow and Leonardo diCaprio. Ignatius will offer conference attendees an overview of the era that created the “wilderness of mirrors” involving double agents, moles and deception operations - and the political and historical impact of Cold War espionage.

Ignatius has had a distinguished career in the news business. He has written widely for magazines and published six novels, including “Agents of Innocence,” which Harper’s Magazine called ‘one of the greatest spy tales ever written.” His twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs debuted on The Washington Post op-ed page in January 1999 syndicated worldwide by the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service.

Ignatius continued to write weekly after becoming executive editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in September 2000. When the Post sold its interest in the IHT in January 2003, he resumed writing twice a week for the op-ed page and was syndicated worldwide by The Washington Post Writers Group. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary and a 2004 Edward Weintal Prize.

As executive editor of the IHT, Ignatius met with leaders of countries across Europe and Asia. During his journalism career, he has covered almost every Washington beat, from the Pentagon to the CIA to Capitol Hill.

Ignatius served as the Post´s foreign editor from 1990 to 1992, supervising the paper´s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From 1986 to 1990, he was editor of the Post´s Outlook section, a Sunday opinion section that covers politics, economics, foreign policy and intellectual trends.

Before joining the Washington Post in 1986, Ignatius spent 10 years as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering the steel industry, the Justice Department, the CIA and the U.S. Senate. He transferred overseas to become the paper´s Middle East correspondent from 1980 to 1983, covering wars in Lebanon and Iraq. He returned to Washington in 1984 as the Journal´s chief diplomatic correspondent.

Raised in Washington, D.C., Ignatius attended St. Albans School and Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He received a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard and studied at King´s College, Cambridge University, where he received a diploma in economics. He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Talk Magazine and The Washington Monthly.

Ignatius has written six novels: Agents of Innocence, published in 1987 by W.W. Norton; SIRO, published in 1991 by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux; The Bank of Fear, published in 1994 by William Morrow; A Firing Offense, published in 1997 by Random House; The Sun King, published in 1999 by Random House; and Body of Lies, published in April 2007 by W.W. Norton. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. Tom Cruise and Paramount Productions bought film rights to his fourth novel, A Firing Offense. Director Ridley Scott and Warner Bros. are currently in production on Body of Lies.

For details on the Raleigh Spy Conference, including schedule and reservations, go to http://www.raleighspyconference.com.

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