Author Spotlight: Inside The White House With Karna Bodman

Local author, Karna Bodman, shares her process on turning White House experience into international thrillers. Hear her experience getting inspiration, settings, and ideas from her White House work and connections.

When Ronald Reagan was elected President, he stood in front of Blair House and named Jim Brady as his Press Secretary with Karna as Jim’s Deputy. She had almost daily meetings with the President and traveled on Air Force One. She was also sent to South America and the Far East to give speeches to government, business and student groups on the President’s economic priorities.

Next, she was named Senior Director and spokesman for the National Security Council. She attended arms control talks with the Soviets and traveled with the team that briefed the leaders of Great Britain, France and Italy as well as Pope John Paul II. Those were  “evil empire” days, so it was a unique experience to chat with the Soviet Union’s General Secretary Gorbachev at that first Summit meeting in Geneva.

When Karna left The White House to become Senior Vice President of a Public Affairs firm, she was the highest ranking woman on The White House staff.

By now, she had written TV news scripts, briefing papers for the President, newspaper columns and magazine articles, but she had always wanted to write novels. She hopes you will enjoy her new thriller,  Trust but Verify, as well as Castle Bravo, Checkmate, Gambit, Final Finesse, and her short story, The Agent.  She is currently working on #6, Affairs of the State.