Over the course of my career, I have worked with many agents, but never before with one of the literary kind. I was blessed to have one of the best in the business, Andrew Wylie. I thank Andrew and his former deputy, Scott Moyers, for easing my initiation into the publishing world.
Louise Burke, executive vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster, was among the first to recognize the importance of writing Hard Measures, and she assigned some of her best people to help us. I want to thank Mitchell Ivers of Simon & Schuster, whose enthusiasm for this project never wavered from the first day we met and whose skill and advice as an editor made it infinitely better. We are grateful to Jennifer Robinson and Mary McCue for aggressively employing their publicity skills to help make sure the reading public was aware of this book.
Patti and I have the good fortune of having many friends around the world who support us and love us no matter what. I want to single out our dear friends Barb and Rick and their daughters, Megan and Carly. I also thank our friends Don and Sherry, Don and Carolyn, Guillermo and Serpa, Wayne and Carla, Chris and Rosslyn, Barry and Rosana, and Peg and David. A special thanks to my biggest fans and supporters and longtime family friends from Cape Cod—Doris, Carl, and Mary.
My parents, Jose Angel and Lucy, knitted the fabric of my character and molded me into the person I am today. They gave me a value system rooted in honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, and fairness. The hardest decisions I made as a leader in the clandestine service reflected the value system and moral compass of my upbringing. I owe them everything.
My brother, Willie, sister, Ivelisse, their spouses, Doris and David, and their children, Melissa, Natalia, Daniel, and grandson Alejandro were a source of love and support during the trials and tribulations of the past few years.
My mother-in-law, Jean, prayed hard and lit many candles for me. My father-in-law, Ed “Fatty,” died suddenly twenty years ago, but I know he was pulling for us from up above. I am grateful to my sister-in-law, Jan, her husband, Mike, and their children, Kyle, Cara, and her husband, Mike, for their unwavering confidence in me.
I love my sons, Nic and Alec, more than they will ever know. They have grown into decent, respectful, kind, and sensitive human beings and I am very proud of them. This book is my legacy to them.
And then there is my beloved wife, Patti, my soul mate and best friend for the past thirty years. I met her on my first foreign assignment and married her before my second. Together we lived in six different countries, endured fifteen pack-outs, hosted hundreds of invited guests to our homes, and attended an even greater number of diplomatic dinners and receptions. We had a lot of fun during our seventeen years overseas and made many friends, but we also had to deal with crime, danger, natural disasters, and disease. As I ascended the ranks in my career she shared my greatest accomplishments as well as my deepest disappointments. While I worked twelve- to fourteen-hour days she worked even longer days caring for our children, running the household, and working outside the home whenever the opportunity presented itself. I could not have had the career I had without her love and support. My love for her grows with each passing day.
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