Journalist who exposed CIA activity

David Wise, one of the first journalists to expose the clandestine operations of the Central Intelligence Agency and a standard-setter for investigative reporting into government espionage, died Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C. He was 88.

The death, at Georgetown University Medical Center, was confirmed by his wife, Joan Wise, who said the cause was pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Wise was the author, with Thomas B. Ross, of “The Invisible Government,” an explosive 1964 expose of the CIA and its covert operations. To keep its contents from the public, the CIA considered buying up all copies of the book but backed off when the publisher, Random House, made clear that it would simply print more.

Mr. Wise began his journalism career in the late 1940s as a campus stringer for The New York Herald Tribune while studying at Columbia College. In his senior year he was editor of the campus newspaper, The Spectator, alongside another aspiring journalist, Max Frankel, who in 1986 became executive editor of The New York Times.

Mr. Frankel said on Tuesday that Mr. Wise seemed born to write about espionage: He always kept information — even what he had for lunch — close to the vest.

Mr. Wise joined the Herald Tribune’s staff in 1951 and later moved to Washington, where he covered politics and the Kennedy White House. He was named Washington bureau chief in 1963 and served in that role until the paper closed in 1966.

At that point he devoted himself full time to writing books. Over the next half century, he wrote a trove of nonfiction works that include the stories of America’s most notorious spies — Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen among them. In the telling he revealed details of the government’s bungling and deceptions.

He also wrote three spy novels, which were praised for their insight and authority.

His assiduous attention to detail gave his work authenticity.